PCB Council moves to approve garbage plan

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Garbage-hauling bills along Front Beach Road and Oleander Drive could increase $4 to $14 a month as the result of a plan the Panama City Beach Council endorsed Thursday.

The council approved a first reading of the ordinance, which would require residential property owners along Front Beach Road and Oleander Drive to keep their trash cans off the side of the street. It must be approved again to take effect.

The council is trying to address the issue of trash clutter along the Front Beach Road corridor, with renters often filling up cans by the road and setting out other bags next to them.

Under the current law, trash cans cannot be left on the side of the road any longer than 12 hours in any three-day period. City officials said it’s an ordinance that is nearly impossible to enforce because people have different trash haulers that come by at different times during the day, so it’s hard to know how long a can has been out.

Under the proposed ordinance, homeowners could be subject to a $100 fine if a full or empty trash can is visible to pedestrians standing within the right of way.

People’s trash would have to be picked up from an area where the garbage can is hidden from view.

City Manager Mario Gisbert said homeowners will have to enter into agreements with the haulers as to where they will be picking up and dropping off the cans.

“Right now we do some that have screens” enclosing garbage, he said. “We have others who have them inside their garage. We have others who have them behind their side-yard fence. We have 50 different variations.”

Haulers who were in the audience at Tuesday’s meeting gave a range of estimates of what they would add to the bill to provide this additional service.

Lee J. Kinner, the area public relations manager for Waste Pro, a garbage hauler on Panama City Beach, estimated that the extra service for haulers to pick up trash from enclosed areas and take it back to the enclosed area could add anywhere from $7 to $14 to a person’s monthly trash hauling bill.

He said after the meeting that this was just an estimate and it might be less, but he didn’t want to understate the costs.

Joe Kennedy, the owner of Mr. Trash on Panama City Beach, estimated the extra service would cost customers between $4 and $8. He told the council the ordinance would only affect about 50 homes, so it won’t take that much work to bring the cans to an area out of sight and back.

“We’re not talking a large number of homes,” he said.

City revises scooter ordinance

In other action Thursday, the City Council:

— Approved on first reading an ordinance that revises one they previously approved. It takes out a provision in an ordinance that requires scooter companies to have safety flags on the backs of the scooters. And the revision also does away with a previous requirement the council had approved requiring scooter riders to wear safety vests wherever they were traveling on the island. The revision only requires them to wear the safety vests when traveling on city roads, which would not include major streets like Front Beach Road. The council backed off the requirement on the advice of legal counsel, saying it could help a defense of a lawsuit. The city is being sued by California Cycles, which contends that vests and flags are the state’s jurisdiction, not the city’s.

— Denied a request by a scooter shop owner to change the effective date of an ordinance that is already law that requires scooter businesses to carry the same minimum liability coverage required on automobile insurance in the event the scooter rider damages someone else’s property or hurts them. Olesea Siriteanu, the owner of Hangout By the Sea, said when she tried to secure the insurance the city is requiring, the only company that provides it would not allow it to be purchased just for a month, but required a minimum of three months. She said she will be closing down for the season before that time period is up.