NEWS

Walton County officials to address 'culture of illegal dumping' in Villa Tasso

Jim Thompson
Northwest Florida Daily News

VILLA TASSO — What one resident calls "a culture of illegal dumping" in Villa Tasso, an unincorporated southwestern Walton County community on the north side of Choctawhatchee Bay, will be getting some official attention, County Administrator Larry Jones said earlier this week.

A derelict motor home and a trailer full of debris sit along Vance Avenue in the Villa Tasso neighborhood east of Niceville Thursday.

Jones' comments came after Villa Tasso resident Thomas Gilmore used a public comment period at Tuesday's Walton County Board of County Commissioners meeting to paint an unflattering picture of the community.

“We have trash and garbage spilling into the streets in my neighborhood, Villa Tasso” Gilmore told commissioners.  "It's egregious."

An old piece of furniture lies in the woods on the Eglin reservation near State Road 20 in Villa Tasso Thursday.

In addition to the illegal dumping, Gilmore said, residents of Villa Tasso also are contending with what he characterized as illegal junkyards, loose dogs and encampments of homeless people..

"What does a bad neighborhood look like?" Gilmore asked rhetorically Tuesday, inviting commissioners to "come and see."

A Thursday afternoon drive through the back streets of Villa Tasso, on the southwest side of State Road 20, revealed household furniture, used building materials and assorted junk, including a derelict motor home, piled at the edges of numerous residential yards, the fringes of vacant lots and along rights of way. There were, however, no dogs readily visible in the area, nor any easily visible signs of homeless encampments.

Construction debris sit at the edge of a vacant lot on Nimrod Circle in Villa Tasso on Thursday. A resident's complaints about trash-related issues in the community is prompting Walton County government staff members to assess the situation. [JIM THOMPSON/DAILY NEWS]

An admittedly brief windshield survey of the area also showed no visible evidence of one of Gilmore's claims, that trash was being dumped on Eglin Air Force Base range property in the area.

Mike Spaits, a spokesman for Eglin Air Force Base, acknowledged Thursday that dumping can sometimes be a problem on areas of Eglin AFB property that adjoin residential areas.

But, Spaits added, the last time that Eglin was notified of alleged dumping on its property in Villa Tasso, in February, he investigated and found that the derelict RV that was the subject of the complaint was a distance of some feet away from Eglin property. And, Spaits added, a nearby resident who came out while he was on the scene said he planned to transport the vehicle to the county dump. 

Household items sit in a yard on Nimrod Circle in Villa Tasso. A resident's complaint about trash-related issues in the community is prompting Walton County officials to take a look at the situation. [JIM THOMPSON/DAILY NEWS]

Gilmore, who said Tuesday he had contacted both the sheriff's office and the county code enforcement office about the issues in Villa Tasso, went on to tell commissioners, "I’m not in the business of law enforcement, I’m just a citizen who lives in a neighborhood that I love.”

Commissioners speculated Tuesday that the illegal trash dumping that Gilmore claimed was occurring in Villa Tasso — to the extent that it is occurring — might be the result of people from outside Walton County who are trying to avoid paying for garbage collection. In Walton County, they noted, garbage collection is covered with proceeds from a 1% local tax.

Commissioners also went on to suggest that Gilmore work to reestablish a neighborhood watch program that has apparently gone dormant in Villa Tasso, which Gilmore said he would do.

Beyond that, Jones told commissioners that county government staff members would meet with Gilmore to assess the situation and determine how best to deploy county resources, including the sheriff's office, and environmental regulatory agencies beyond the county to address his concerns.