Community Development District 2 Supervisors Bill Schikora and Jim Cipollone met Thursday with a large group of Villagers who are upset about a sinkhole-drained pond in the Village of Alhambra.
The pond has repeatedly drained after repairs since the drenching rainfall which accompanied Hurricane Irma in 2017. The Villagers recounted the frustration they have had as a result of the failed repairs over the past two and a half years.
The problems with the pond had been addressed by filling the sinkholes in late September 2017. The clay and dirt fill failed to seal the sinkhole, which reappeared in October 2017.
The District then did a number of repairs, which seemed to work until July 2018. Since then the pond has held very little water and has developed a weed problem, according to the neighbors. Repairs in 2019 also failed to hold and the pond today is weed-filled with some mud puddles visible from the yards surrounding the pond.
In 2018, the CDD 2 Board approved a $100,000 expenditure for repairs at the pond. The $100,000 was taken from a reserve account funded by maintenance assessment fees paid by residents of CDD 2. Over the previous decade, $78,000 had been spent on sinkhole repairs at the pond.
Connie Carlisle and her husband bought a home on the pond in 2019. They bought the property after being told by a Villages sales representative that he had no knowledge of any sinkhole problems.
“We were lied to,” Carlisle said.
Other residents expressed concerns that their property values have declined as a result of pond problems.
Residents had planned to vent their frustration at the March 13 CDD 2 meeting. That meeting was canceled due to concern about the Coronavirus.
