SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla.,None — Dozens of Seminole County residents are speaking out against UPS setting up delivery pods in their neighborhood.
The county commission is changing an ordinance that would make those pods legal, and now a state senator is getting involved.
UPS uses golf carts to deliver packages, which it stores in pods. WFTV has shown UPS pods in residents' front yards, and packages flying off the trailers.
Our cameras caught the driver of a UPS golf cart break the law when he drove the wrong way on a one-way street. He also got stuck turning into a Sanford neighborhood.
Antionette Ashby was one of dozens who pushed the Seminole County Commission on Thursday to pass new restrictions on the UPS holiday delivery method.
Ashby said she worries about her elderly mother.
"What if a package fell off and caused her to wreck?" Ashby said. "I don't want those in my neighborhood."
The county's new rules prohibit UPS from using residential properties and open trailers, but one state senator wants more change.
Thad Altman sponsored the bill two years ago that lets UPS use golf carts.
"Why aren't these golf carts street legal? They should be," Altman said.
He said he was told they would be street legal and even electric, but that wasn't written into the bill. Instead, lawmakers put in language that left it up to local governments to create their own rules on the golf carts.
But after he was shown WFTV's video, he said he will work to review the law's language.
"We need to make sure that they're not driving on sidewalks and that they're operating safely. Obviously that concerns me," Altman said.
UPS said the golf cart delivery method is better for the environment and created 3,000 seasonal jobs last year.
WFTV
