Jimmy Farrell, a long-time resident of Lehigh Acres, laments the transformation of his once-quiet community into a bustling area plagued by illegal dumping.
“This is the eastern part of Lehigh; we are about a half a mile from the Hendry County line back here,” he said. “It used to be quiet and peaceful, it’s not anymore. You’ve got all these trucks and tractor-trailers going up all over the roads, dumping trash all over the roads.”
Farrell’s biggest complaint is the trash littering the area.
“There is trash everywhere! I pick trash up every day, just bags of it!” he said.
In a single day of investigation, reporters found at least five truckloads of various trash, including roofing materials, old cabinets, nails, tires, and even dumped animal carcasses, left to rot on the roads.
“I guess they are getting paid to remove the trash, but they don’t want to pay to dump, they just throw it out,” Farrell said.
Alain Capucci, vice president of Unite Lehigh, echoes Farrell’s concerns.
“We need a better quality of life to live in Lehigh. Right now, we don’t have control of anything,” Capucci said.
Capucci’s organization has been advocating for the incorporation of Lehigh Acres as a city or town, hoping that local governance and code enforcement could better address the dumping issue.
“We do need more representation. We need people who can speak for us. I believe personally the county commissioners are doing what they need to do for now. They stepped up, they are spending more money, but the best way for Lehigh Acres to represent itself is as an incorporated town, or as the City of Lehigh Acres. It’s the best solution for this. I know they disagree with this, but it is the best way,” Capucci said.
At a recent Lee County Commission meeting, State Representative Mike Giallombardo discussed the implementation of a single-member district.
“Actually there was an opportunity for the county, to work with Lehigh, it’s called LAMSID. Matt Caldwell actually created LAMSID in order to broker a deal between the county to have the basic ability to sidewalks, street lights, things like that. And the county refused to even bring it to the table,” Giallombardo said.
Capucci remains open to the idea of adding two additional commissioners to the Lee County Board, one of whom would directly represent Lehigh Acres.
“Single-member district is being planned by the state representatives. They want to add 2 more county commissioners, one for Lehigh Acres who can speak on your behalf. Great. We want someone who can represent us. But is it enough? No,” Capucci asserts.
Trish Fancher with Keep Lee County Beautiful has been tackling the illegal dumping issue in her own way.
“I think it’s a couple of problems. It’s very rural, less eyes on people deciding to make that choice, and it’s booming. You’ve got a lot of movement, people going in, people coming out,” Fancher said.
Fancher emphasizes the importance of vetting contractors to ensure proper disposal of waste.
“Some of it is obviously contractor work. What we are trying to educate people to vet your contractor. It’s okay to ask for their dump ticket, once they have ripped your cabinet out of your house, chopped your palm trees. It’s okay to say can I have the dump ticket to say yes we disposed of it properly, and didn’t dump it on the side of the road. It’s okay to ask for those things,” she said.
In Lee County, it costs just under $70 to dispose of a ton of contracting debris, meaning that the trash dumped in random lots is often left there so contractors can pocket the disposal fee.
“But so it’s an education that again, what are these companies doing, we need to hold them accountable, what are they doing with these tires when they take them off of their trucks?” Fancher said.