The Bradford County Commission agreed to extend the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s access to the Douglas Warehouse property off U.S. Highway 301.
The DEP currently has unfettered access to the property, and the extended agreement would expand that access no matter who rents from the property, county officials said.
With this extension, the FDEP can conduct soil, surface, subsurface, groundwater investigations and other necessary monitoring to remediate the contaminants. According to public records, remediation will be completed by the department and its contractors.
The extension comes after public records revealed volatile organic compounds or VOCs on the site of the property. These contaminants have existed on the Douglas Warehouse property since 2012 and have spread to nearby properties. Public records revealed that a state-funded clean-up was in order in 2012, but almost all of the same nearby properties had been notified of the contaminants on their property in 2026.
Area residents who spoke at the meeting asked the commissioners several questions. One woman wanted to know how long it would take for the contaminants to be removed once they are found.
“Set everything aside until we get more facts from the FDEP about what is even suitable on a property with known environmental and health contaminants,” Carol Mosley told the commission. “Do not pass the buck on this responsibility and please don’t waste anyone’s time by letting everything drag on.”
The meeting agenda listed a discussion item on different property options for the Douglas building, including a “potential lease with Bradford County Sheriff's Office for the purpose of installation of a temporary ICE detainment facility.” But no discussion was held on this item.
Another agenda item called for discussion around “other lease or marketing options” for the property. Bradford County real estate agent, Marty Shaw took the podium to address a letter of intent that was received from a local business interested in using the property.
“They have an interest in expanding their operations into an industrial park,” Shaw said. “It’s all back off 44th street and this continues to the Douglas property.
The name of the business was not addressed at the meeting, but Shaw did say the business has been in Starke for about 10 years producing granite for the area.
“Our thought is that we might be able to enter into a lease agreement with the county for the Douglas building and then expand operation to include the Douglas property with marketing and eventually [having] additional development opportunities,” Shaw said.
Commissioners were open to hearing more about this lease option.
“I just think we have not explored other options for this property properly,” Shaw said. “This would be a chance for us to spend somebody else’s money to do all of the marketing and you all would get to see the results and approve of whatever the alternatives uses would be.”
Commissioner Diane Andrews suggested anyone leasing the property should be notified of the toxins and contaminants present. Shaw agreed that any reports that are available would be disclosed.
Bradford County commissioners Danny Riddick and Carolyn Spooner voted against moving forward with the proposed ICE facility earlier this year.
“I would rather go this route and have you explore other opportunities than the other option we were presented with,” Riddick said.
Spooner expressed a similar sentiment after discussing the future of the Douglas area and the potential the property has.
“When you think about it, we’re not getting anything out of the building as it stands and if it were occupied by the detention [facility], we wouldn’t get anything out of it either,” Spooner said. “Let’s explore this and be open to other options.”
The FDEP is permitted to immediately begin monitoring and assessing the contaminants at the Douglas building following the April 7 vote.