Buckingham’s flooding problem wreaks havoc

As Tim O’Hara leaned on the fence in his next-door neighbor’s backyard and stared at the filled-in ditch and new berm, he couldn’t believe the damage it had done in less than two weeks.

After one developer’s actions, the filled-in swale’s water floods acres of Buckingham neighbor’s properties.

“Put this back the way it was. Let’s figure out the problem. And then we can go find a solution from there. But don’t ruin our lives,” said O’Hara.

The swale, or what neighbors call “the ditch,” sat on the developer GL Homes’ property.

Lee County said, “The Buckingham 345 project filled the swale on their own property as part of the construction work permitted by the County and the South Florida Water Management District.”

Permit or not, neighbors say those actions wreak havoc for them.

It hasn’t rained in days, but with nowhere for that water to go, everything is soaked.

Michelle Sullivan has to use a four-wheeler to get around her 10 acres.

“The ground is saturated, it stinks, we have more mosquitoes and my poor horses who shouldn’t be standing in water are standing in water,” said Michelle Sullivan, “I wish the viewers could smell what we’re smelling … because it absolutely stinks because it’s just been sitting for days.”

Tim and Michelle called up the South Florida Water Management District. An inspector came out Wednesday and told neighbors he had more research to do.

One of his unanswered questions is, who is responsible for managing the ditch? Before the inspector could tell neighbors that, the developers and county got one.

In a statement to WINK News, a representative for GL Homes said, “Based on a review of the Lee County Property Appraiser’s aerial photographs, it appears that a previous property owner illegally dug a ditch on our property sometime in 2012 and used the dirt from the ditch to fill their property on the south side of the ditch.”

That previous owner no longer lives on that property, Tim O’Hara does.

When asked if they would step in, Lee County said in a statement in part, “The situation is a civil matter between private property owners. The engineer of record for Buckingham 345 is working with the property owners to pursue a solution.”

“We had a meeting with Lee County Staff and our engineer this morning to discuss options to alleviate or at least minimize the drainage problems,” said GL Homes in a statement, “It was agreed that we will meet with the property owner, Lee County Staff and SFWMD Staff in the field later this week. The County and GL Homes are in agreement that some form of a drainage swale can be created near the common property line. The exact location or who will maintain has not been determined.”

O’Hara told WINK News that the County called him and advised that a swale be placed on his property. He believes it should be placed on land between the two.

No matter who put the illegal ditch in, Michelle Sullivan hopes the county can provide a solution for all parties. For now, Buckingham neighbors have flooded property and fear a solution won’t come before the next big rain when the problem could get worse.

---

Full Statement from GL Homes

“First and foremost, GL Homes of Florida always wants to be a good neighbor when we start new communities adjacent to existing homes. In this case with our new community in Buckingham our engineer studied all the available data from historical maps, surveys, lidar (topography) data, etc., reviewed Lee County and SFWMD files, and obtained our own survey and topography data. The ditch behind the Ohara property did not show up in any of our research. We assume the ditch was missed by the surveyors and our field inspections because it was completely covered with dense Brazilian pepper that was so thick that no one could move through it.

After learning about the drainage complaints on Monday we researched the history of the drainage in this area and the ditch in question. Based on a review of the Lee County Property Appraiser’s aerial photographs, it appears that a previous property owner illegally dug a ditch on our property sometime in 2012 and used the dirt from the ditch to fill their property on the south side of the ditch. Please refer to the image below from 2012. Our property for the new community is north of the yellow boundary line and the Ohara property is south of the yellow line. It is obvious that the Ohara property is being cleared and the ditch has just been cleared and dug (without permission) on the property to the north.

As you are aware, we had a meeting with Lee County Staff and our engineer this morning to discuss options to alleviate or at least minimize the drainage problems. It was agreed that we will meet with the property owner, Lee County Staff and SFWMD Staff in the field later this week. The County and GL Homes are in agreement that some form of a drainage swale can be created near the common property line. The exact location or who will maintain has not been determined. There are also questions on the impact to overall drainage patterns for the area and the permitting requirements. Thus the involvement of SFWMD. It appears from the unrecord subdivisions to the east that the drainage for the properties south of the new development are supposed to drain to the south, not the west, because there are drainage easements set aside for that purpose along with some existing drainage ditches. The problem appears to be that those drainage ditches have not been maintained by the property owners.”