NO MORE COLONIAS  = NO to WASTE COLLECTION SITE 

The Penitas Garbage Collection Site on Military Road is scheduled to be closed.  Hidalgo County wants to close this established and fully operational Citizen Waste Collection Site and BUILD a NEW ONE on Tom Gill Road and 5 Mile Line. We petition the Hidalgo County Commissioner Everardo Villarreal and Hidalgo County Commissioners Court to keep the Penitas Citizen Waste Collection Site open and NOT BUILD a replacement Waste Collection Site on Tom Gill Road and 5 Mile Line.  We ask them NOT to move a garbage collection site into a calm and clean rural area where responsible families have lived in for over 20 years. 

If a CITIZENS WASTE COLLECTION SITE is built on Tom Gill Road and 5 Mile Line, Hidalgo County will be SPENDING MORE TAXPAYER MONEY to build a new one and pay MORE TAXPAYER MONEY PER MONTH to maintain a new one and it will:  

1. Attract, encourage, and promote the development of more COLONIAS in a rural area where there are NO COLONIAS

2. Increase traffic by 1000 - 30,000 cars on Tom Gill RD which is a two    lane street.  Tom Gill Road has no shoulders and is landlocked.  No plans have been made to address this increase in traffic. 

The proposed WASTE COLLECTION SITE would affect every county and city resident, not only the property owners living within 200 feet of the property.  Without question, the operation of a WASTE COLLECTION SITE would attract COLONIAS.  This petition is based on the following negative impact considerations and desire to prevent the future development of colonias in the area: 

1.  Lack of plan to address the increase in traffic 

2.  The limited scope of potential buyers interested in properties near a WASTE COLLECTION SITE (colonia)

2. The reduced number of potential buyers interested in purchasing the properties near a WASTE COLLECTION SITE. (less buyers)

3. The plummeting future market value price of properties near a WASTE COLLECTION SITE (sale prices)

4.  Lower property values of properties near a WASTE COLLECTION SITE

5.  Flooding and Drain issues due to the adverse effect of reducing the water absorption rate in the area due to the deforestation of property to be used as a WASTE COLLECTION SITE. 

6. Destruction of agriculture landscape into an unattractive landscape which will attract pests, rodents, and their predators. 

7.  Growth of fungus and bacteria at the WASTE COLLECTION SITE which can adversely affect residents and cause offensive and health altering odors.