LEON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - It was a rude awakening Thursday morning for people living in the Woodhaven area on the Southside of Tallahassee.
More heavy machinery just moved into their neighborhood.
It's the latest development in the 'sand pit saga' that WTXL has been following for more than a year.
For years, Woodhaven neighbors have been waking up to the sound of bulldozers, sand miners, and heavy machines.
"It's not livable. I've had to move both my parents out of the house," said James Egan, longtime Woodhaven resident. "They were crushing rocks on one side and digging sand on the other and it just caused havoc."
Egan has lived in Woodhaven since the 70's.
"Come and take out the forest and only leave us 60 feet between that kind of equipment and what's coming is even larger equipment," said Egan.
As we reported in June of 2017, the city commission voted to rezone 70 acres of land off Capital Circle SW into an industrial site where rocks are now crushed.
Residents already see a massive sand pit outside their windows from phase 1 of construction and now another pit is on the way.
Egan is one of several Woodhaven residents who woke up on Thursday morning to trees being ripped down in their backyard. This is part of Sandco's next phase to build a sand mining pit.
Egan said even though his neighborhood is outside Tallahassee city limits, the planning commission is regulating the construction.
"It's pretty life changing and we've done what we could to complain but we've got no support," said Egan.
Eagan said many of his fellow neighbors have left the area, anticipating disruptions well into the future.
We reached out to the city's planning department and Sandco contractors for comment. We have yet to hear back.
