Commission orders hour-long inspection after residents say contaminated soil was hauled without tarps

Residents from the Woodlands neighborhood urged the commission to investigate alleged mishandling of contaminated soil at an active construction site. Eileen Lieberman Michaelson presented multiple photographs and said trucks left the site without tarps and deposited soil near residences.

"That dump truck then left the site and drove down Bayberry Lane without a tarp covering the the, land soil that it was taking out," Michaelson said, describing what she said were multiple unprotected soil loads and tire tracks across lawns. She asked the city to enforce permit conditions and development-agreement requirements.

Vice Mayor Bolton moved that the city manager direct staff to visit the site within an hour and, if violations were found, issue a stop-work order. City Attorney and the city manager said they would operate within the city's jurisdiction, review the development agreement and pursue code-enforcement options. The motion was adopted on a roll call vote, 5'to'0.

Commissioners discussed the balance between allowing remediation work to proceed and protecting residents' property and health. The city attorney said the contractor's remediation activities were under a Broward County permit and staff would investigate whether local development-agreement or code violations occurred.