TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Residents of the Woodhaven Subdivision say the company that owns the Sand Pit has been reckless in its attempt to expand its sand-mining business.
Margaret Williams can't go outside anymore.
She's developed severe respiratory issues forcing her to rely on Oxygen.
She and her husband Danny have lived here for more than 40 years, but they say their neighborhood has been covered in dust.
"I don't know if that had anything to do with my illness," said Williams. "I can't prove it, but I know that it didn't help it."
"If it was just her, I could understand, maybe it's different," her husband, Danny Williams, asserted. "I can't prove that, but she's been suffering for it. And when she suffers, I do."
The dust comes from a sand-mining, rock-crushing operation behind a thin line of trees at the end of their block.
"Sandco, Inc." operates on what used to be a sand pit off Lake Munson.
"They have just gone into what I call the second phase of this subdivision to sand mine it by taking out a couple hundred feet of trees," said Dennis Prescott, who's been a Woodhaven resident since 1979.
"We don't know what's going in there. Nobody has even tried to find out, because they won't let you in there," said Danny Williams.
To get an idea of how close the sand-mining operation is to the neighborhood, this residence is just 50 feet away. Residents say it brings a number of concerns.
"It causes an amazing amount of dust and will cover everywhere -- the trees, the leaves," said Sean Egan, who's been a Woodhaven resident since 1979.
"And the sound then -- when it was close to us was -- you'd wake up in the morning, and they used to run late at night," explained Margaret Williams.
Residents say their homes would shake from the work, which "Sandco" wants to expand by rezoning and changing the land use.
"Our whole neighborhood is going to have to live with this again -- and we won't have the woods as protection," Egan said.
The local planning commission denied Sandco's proposal in February. The City Commission will hold a public hearing tomorrow for a final vote.
WTXL has reached out to Sandco for comment and are still waiting to hear back.
