County won't remove pile of Irma debris from private property

BRADENTON (FOX 13) - Drivers looking for the Mount Vernon Shopping Plaza in Manatee County have to look beyond a wall of storm debris to find it.

”You can't even see this entire strip from the street,” said Chris Welch, an employee at a thrift shop in the plaza. “It definitely has put a damper on our business."

The owners of Judy’s Restaurant told the Bradenton Herald the same thing. 

So why hasn’t anyone hauled this away?

The short answer is because it sits on private property and the county only removes debris in the public right of way.

The pile was collected from the Mount Vernon Condos and Mount Vernon owns the land in front of the plaza.  Because of where the debris is piled up, the county won’t touch it.

“Ultimately the debris that’s there needs to be removed and put on the right of way for the county to remove it or someone’s going to have to pay to take it away,” said Nick Azzara, spokesman for Manatee County.

Reps from Mount Vernon say they want the debris gone too. They also say no businesses have complained directly to them.

“I just feel like it was an [expletive] to the businesses because it’s out of their hair they put their problem on to us,” said Welch.

Mount Vernon says they were hoping the county would pick it up, but instead will likely have to hire a private company to do it. 

No word on when that’ll happen.