A judge has denied a request from the city of St. Petersburg that could have allowed city officials to enter the property of a tire shop that was suspected of being a mosquito breeding ground.
Judge Amy Williams said in a hearing Tuesday that she had determined Thach Tire & Rim, 1445 16th St. N had taken steps to address possible mosquito breeding over the last week.
The hearing stemmed from a city code violation case that began in April, when a codes compliance investigator saw uncovered piles of tires filled with water on the property.
The city argued in a request for an injunction filed last week against Thach Tire & Rim, and the property owner, Kerryblue, LLC, that the shop was a public health hazard amid a rise of mosquito-borne dengue, citing multiple confirmed cases within a few blocks.
During a Tuesday hearing, Devon Haggitt, an attorney representing the city, said that the business had made good progress and that it looked like the tires were almost gone from the property.
The complaint filed last week asked the tire shop and property owner to abate the sanitary nuisance within 24 hours. If they did not do so, they asked the court to allow the city to take steps to address the situation, including possibly removing the tires.
Haggitt said Tuesday she was happy with the progress made at the shop, but was still seeking the temporary injunction and would allow the shop more than 24 hours to fix the issue.
During the hearing, James Byrne, a lawyer appearing on behalf of Kerryblue, discussed photos showing that one storage unit was already placed on the property, now housing tires, and that another was coming.
Byrne said in a phone call with the Tampa Bay Times that the yard is “practically empty.”
The situation has changed “radically” since last weekend, Byrne said during the hearing.
Given more time, “I think the problem goes away altogether,” he said.
Nareen Thach, the tire shop owner’s daughter told the judge it took time for her to get answers from the city to understand what was and was not allowed.
In a special magistrate hearing held last week, the city confirmed that a permit was submitted to put a permanent structure for the tires on the property.
During the Tuesday hearing, the city said that the permit was “ready to be picked up” and is on hold, waiting for the contractor to file a notice of commencement.
“Whatever timeline you want to give them for the containers, we’re OK with that,” Haggitt said. “We would just want to see maybe 24 hours for the tarping, and just keeping it secure from water and the elements.”
The judge denied the request for a temporary injunction, saying that the defendants are addressing the issue.
However, the judge ordered that any tires remaining outside be covered by tarp at the end of every business day, and that tires be removed or enclosed in a container no later than Nov. 10.
If the newest container arrives quicker, then the tires should be in the structure within 24 hours.
For months, residents in the Euclid-St. Paul area have made pleas to the city to remedy the situation, worrying that the shop is a mosquito breeding site.
Records show that over several months, St. Petersburg’s Codes Compliance Assistance Department, Pinellas County Mosquito Control and the Florida Department of Health have all visited the site.
In some instances, officials found evidence of hundreds of tires collecting water, sometimes breeding mosquitoes.
The city’s efforts come amid one of the worst outbreaks of dengue in Tampa Bay in the last century. It has prompted Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties to recently declare states of emergency.
Dengue is an infection passed between humans and mosquitoes. Most cases are asymptomatic or cause mild illness, but in some rare cases can be severe, or cause death, according to the World Health Organization.
A Tampa woman, Gay Small, 80, was the first person to die of dengue fever this year in the state.
St. Petersburg’s complaint, filed Oct. 26, said that “multiple cases” of dengue fever were confirmed within a few blocks of the shop.
The Times spoke to neighbors in the blocks around the tire shop last week.
One man, who asked not to be named in part because it’s a personal health matter, said he’d contracted dengue in late September.
He described a high fever, extreme body pain and intense fatigue. At some points, he feared he might die.
Dengue cases have continued to swell in Tampa Bay.
In the latest batch of information from the Florida Department of Health from Oct. 18 to the 24th, Hillsborough had 385 locally acquired cases, up from 346 the week before. In Pinellas, cases rose from 51 to 67.
In an email to the Times, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is working with public health leadership to support the dengue outbreak response.
On Oct. 15, the agency activated a level 3 response to support the state’s outbreak needs, and prepare for possible increased transmission in other areas of the country.
The response means that the agency will deploy a small number of CDC Emergency Operations Center staff to help as needed. The agency said it has deployed entomologists, epidemiologists and lab workers to Florida.
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