Orange County begins clearing abandoned properties in Bithlo

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Demolition began at an abandoned mobile home park in Bithlo on Monday.

It's happening long after Orange County officials promised neighbors the condemned homes would be taken down.

By noon, two mobile homes had been leveled but there are a couple dozen to get through.  Officials said it is going to take up to 90 days to get the whole job done.

Heavy equipment was brought in to tear the old and dilapidated trailers to pieces and to separate the metal from the other materials.

The rubble will be hauled away to the landfill, finally clearing off land that has had area residents complaining.

It has been a long process to get the property cleaned up after the owner abandoned the mobile home park and moved north.

Residents were slowly moved out and then it took years to get through all of the court filings.

"There was squatter living right over there," said resident Jesse Land. "The county's been called numerous times."

Not only are there a significant number of fines levied against the property, but it is costing the county about $32,000 to clean it up.

County officials said they will try to recover that money by placing a lien on the property.

WFTV