Villagers who are fed up with an ongoing sinkhole issue that ravaged their neighborhood almost 15 months ago left a Marion County Commission meeting Tuesday morning feeling frustrated and upset – with one going so far as to suggest a class-action lawsuit against The Villages Developer.
The group, from the Village of Calumet Grove, took their plight to the commission to seek help in getting issues resolved surrounding two heavily damaged homes and a dilapidated roadway. Instead, their time was cut short and they weren’t allowed to show their entire slide presentation demonstrating what they’ve been dealing with.
“I felt like we got kind of shafted,” said Barbara Gaines, the designated spokesperson for the group, which had about 30 residents in attendance, all wearing red shirts as a show of solidarity.
But even though things didn’t go as they wished, Gaines said at least the entire commission is now aware of the issues on McLawren Terrace.
“It’s been kind of dormant for 15 months and they just hoped that we’d go away,” she said. “But now that they’re aware of it, I’m hoping they’re going to make some changes.”
Before being told that her time was up, Gaines explained that the 111 property owners near the sinkhole-damaged homes are concerned because a damaged pipe in the neighborhood has forced stormwater to be rerouted down McAlpin Street to another drain. She said the homeowners are worried about that roadway deteriorating, as well as traffic issues surrounding a temporary pump that’s been set up on Locustwood Court.
Gaines also addressed the two damaged homes at 17092 and 17086 McLawren Terrace, where former residents Doris Morrill and Frank and Jan Neumann lived. Those houses have been sold to Asset Trust Holdings LLC, a company that purchases damaged homes, makes repairs and resells them.
Gaines said she hopes the commissioners will look at engineering reports showing how unstable the ground is underneath the two houses before granting any further extensions for repairs – especially if the company plans to flip the homes to one of its other subsidiaries.
“We don’t want them to give these people extension after extension,” she said.
Jo Bielicki, co-president of the group of concerned residents, known as the Buds and Blossoms group, said she was “very disappointed” in District 3 Commissioner Jeff Gold, who represents the area that includes the Village of Calumet Grove.
“He must be living under a rock that he didn’t know this was going on for the past 15 months,” she said, referring to statements made by Gold about just receiving a letter from the group this past Friday.
Bielicki said she also felt like the commission tried to push the issue back on Community Development District 4, which is only responsible for repairing McLawren Terrace and can’t do so until the properties with the damaged homes on them have been stabilized.
“That’s been the problem all along – they keep pointing the finger to the other person,” she said.
CDD 4 Supervisor Mark Hayes was at Tuesday’s meeting and encouraged the group of residents to attend the upcoming CDD 4 meeting on April 12 at Savannah Center to update supervisors and share their concerns.
“I really feel sorry for those people living down there,” he said. “I just wanted them to know that their supervisors support them and are concerned as well.”
Hayes added that he was upset to learn that the Marion County Code Enforcement Board had denied those same residents and District officials the right to speak at a hearing in December when the Neumanns were requesting additional time to make repairs to their home.
“I’m sorry but that’s not right,” he said, adding that the residents, District Manager Richard Baier and District Counsel Valerie Fuchs all should have had been given time to speak – especially given the fact that District 4 has been forced to designate $1.1 million toward the issue.
Marilyn Riccio, who along with husband Vince lives next door to the Neumann’s former home, pulled no punches when asked about the outcome of Tuesday’s meeting.
“I feel very sad that I live in the most incompetent county in all of Florida,” she said, adding that county officials have known about the sinkholes since they opened up last February and again in May and have done nothing to help solve the problems.
Riccio said it’s also been quite difficult living next to one of those damaged homes.
“There’s a terrible odor in the back of my house because there’s a pool in the lanai that has stagnant water,” she said. “It attracts mosquitoes because the screen door is ajar and there’s black mold growing.”
As for enjoying her retirement years in The Villages, Riccio said that was a pipe dream.
“I was moving to the friendliest hometown and this is anything but friendly,” she said. “The Developer doesn’t give two craps. He takes your money, then he turns all the pipes and all the streets and everything over to the districts so that when they fail, they screw the homeowner to fix them. If the people in The Villages were smart, they’d do a class-action suit against him.”
Riccio also said she doesn’t blame CDD 4 for the ongoing issues the neighborhood has been forced to deal with.
“They inherited them,” she said. “(District Manager) Richard Baier and the supervisors have been the only people that have stepped up and tried to help us.”
