Manatee County revisits construction dust control issue

East County’s Chelsea Jervis described what a dust storm looks like. 

“It looks like a fire going on,” she said. “It’s just black dirt smothering everything.” 

Jervis works at H&H Nursery off of State Road 64, near Bourneside Boulevard. Her father-in-law, Mike Hotalan, is the owner. 

Jervis said the dust that comes off surrounding construction sites gets so bad they’ve had to close the nursery at least twice over the past year because the conditions were unbearable. 

Workers wear neck gaiters that pull up over their mouths and noses, but it’s not enough. 

“It goes right through them,” Jervis said. “Our faces are black when we take them off. We’re blowing our noses, and it’s just straight dirt coming out.” 

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Complaints about blinding dust storms in Manatee County are not new. Staff gave commissioners a presentation in April 2024 on how to control construction dust and again March 25. 

Residents across Manatee County, from East County to Parrish to Lake Flores in Bradenton, are complaining that the dust is dirty, expensive to clean and harmful to their health.

Rye Wilderness Estate resident Bo Mortenson power washes his lanai weekly and switches out his air conditioning filter biweekly. He called it “reprehensible“ that he pays such high property taxes on a home he can’t enjoy. 

Staff’s presentation last year led to a clearcutting limit of 100 acres at a time. However, Myakka City resident Elizabeth Arnold said a drive east on State Road 64, where multiple developments are underway, illustrates why that limitation is ineffective. 

County engineer Scott May confirmed that there are still up to 400 acres being clearcut at once when sites are independent of one another. 

Another major issue with the county’s handling of construction dust comes down to money. 

“(Contractors) were directed by developers, supposedly, to go ahead and continue working because of what our current fee structures and enforcement requirements are,” May said. “It’s actually cheaper for (developers) to pay the fine.” 

Fines can’t exceed $250 a day for the first violation or $500 a day for repeat violations. The fines max out at $5,000 per violation. 

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Commissioner Tal Siddique pressed May to openly name the developers who are ignoring the code, but May said he couldn’t pinpoint any particular one because contractors work on multiple sites. 

Instead, May described a vast difference between sites and said there could be anywhere between zero to four water trucks trying to mitigate the dust. It simply depends on the developer. 

A year ago, Mark Van De Ree, spokesperson for the Waterline Road Preservation group, told the East County Observer that he didn't believe the county had enough code inspectors to enforce the rules. 

He was right. 

Staff asked commissioners to require a live feed camera system on any development over 100 acres to assist code enforcement. 

With cameras in place, staff can act immediately on a complaint versus having to send someone to the site. 

But ultimately, Siddique said this is a problem for developers to handle. 

"It's not the county's responsibility or the taxpayer's responsibility to (comply to guidelines), it's the developer's," Siddique said. "And I think what we're finding, even with earth moving standards, is they're just not following the standards." 

In January, Neal Communities installed a temporary irrigation system at its Palm Grove development on State Road 64. 

Ryan Fowler, land development manager for Neal, said the system was put in place to help grow grass for the “dusty season.”

“If you drive through our site, you’ll see a bunch of temporary stands that are irrigating lots,” he said. “The whole purpose of that is to mitigate the dust issue on our site.”