Dust storms have swept through a Florida neighborhood over the last few months, blanketing homes and roads and sickening some residents.
On windy days, residents say the dust blows from Rye Ranch, a 1,369-acre housing development under construction in the Manatee County town of Parrish. The new large-scale community built by Miami-based Lennar Homes sits across the street from existing homes in the Foxbrook neighborhood.
“When the wind picks up, there’s a cloud of dust that comes through this whole community,” said Rob Nilsson, 51, who moved to Foxbrook two years ago. “It’s so thick that you can’t even see through it. It looks like a dust storm in a movie. A big black cloud of dust.”
In a Feb. 23 letter to at least one resident, Scott Edwards, vice president of land development for Lennar Homes, acknowledged that the dust conditions could be caused by construction activities and said the company has “rules and regulations” in place to manage the impact to neighbors.
“Lennar takes great pride in our communities and always strives to do our best to be good neighbors to the surrounding areas,” Edwards wrote.