![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/7832826859526101415.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\u201cThis is my children\u2019s bus stop and there\u2019s going to be over 200 gallons of fuel in this thing. It\u2019s a safety issue,\u201d said Charlie Neighbors, a Lakeland resident. \u201cThere are several small children that live here. The corner is already obstructed. It\u2019s difficult to see when you\u2019re coming out of the cul-de-sac.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neighbors joined several others in asking Polk County Utilities to find another place for the generator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI mean, not only is this a safety issue, the property values around here are going to drop,\u201d said Chris Granzow. \u201cThe last thing you want is a massive generator waking you up in the middle of the night because it\u2019s outside your window.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Granzow owns several properties in the south Lakeland community where that the generator is set to go, and he says this all started because of an issue on the county\u2019s end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe only reason why there was flooding here in the first place is because a failure on the county\u2019s part before the last hurricane,\u201d said Granzow. \u201cThere was an issue where they installed a drain pipe that they didn\u2019t open it before the hurricane. People in the community had to bust that pipe open to allow the water to drain out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Granzow and his father, Jim, listed several reasons why a generator of that size shouldn\u2019t be placed so close to residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey want to put a generator that\u2019s 13 feet high in front of my house,\u201d said Steve Labate. \u201cIt\u2019s already hard enough to see when you\u2019re coming out of this cul-de-sac because of the lift station on our corner. Now they want to put this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Labate said he was shocked to learn that the generator would be placed less than 50 feet from his front door, adding that he has been in contact with Polk County Utilities for months, asking for a different solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like they don\u2019t care about our safety,\u201d said Labate. \u201cThis was our dream home. We saved for this and now less than 6 months later, we find out they\u2019re putting this generator in front of our home. I still haven\u2019t heard back from my homeowners insurance about if they will renew our policy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Polk County Utilities described the placement and need for the generator in this community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis lift station receives flow from another lift station,\u201d said Polk County Utilities Director Tamara Richardson. \u201cThere\u2019s over 1,000 homes that put raw sewage into this lift station. It has overflowed in the past and when it does, it enters somebody\u2019s home. It is our core mission to keep wastewater away from the public. Wastewater has bacteria, feces \u2014 we have to protect the public\u2019s safety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Richardson also said the Florida Department of Environmental Protection requires that lift station receiving flows from other lift stations must have on-site, permanent emergency power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis lift station was built in the 70s. It\u2019s an older design. In a newer subdivision, this would have never been placed where it is, but it was back before the standards we do now. The generator has to be close to the lift station for operating reasons. The lift station and future home of the generator are in the right of way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This south Lakeland community has started a petition that has just over 100 signatures so far to stop the county from placing the generator in their neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m telling you, if someone so much as sprains an ankle over this generator or lack of visibility on that corner, I\u2019m holding every elected official accountable. I\u2019m going to hold Polk Utilities accountable, because everyone was warned of the danger of placing this here,\u201d said Labate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After Hurricane Irma, Polk County applied for a FEMA grant that would provide permanent standby power at lift stations. They were approved, so FEMA sent out a 250-gallon gas generator.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[4652],"class_list":["post-30689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-south-lakeland-residents-are-upset"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}