A villa community in The Villages is suffering through a $1.4 million collapsing pipe problem.
The Cameron Villas in the Village of Calumet Grove look like a war zone after several pipes have collapsed over the past few months. Barricades and the loud pounding of heavy equipment have become a way of life in the 25-year-old villa community.
The pipe problems have been contained within the walls of Cameron Villas, but all residents of Community Development District 4 will be asked to share in the looming repair bill.
This past month, the CDD 4 Board of Supervisors agreed to a 25 percent maintenance assessment increase on the 5,432 homes located in the villages of Briar Meadow, Calumet Grove, Chatham, Piedmont and Woodbury. The board will be discussing the situation when it meets at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Savannah Center.
The initial stormwater pipe collapse occurred May 24 on Victoria Lane in the Cameron Villas. More unnerving pipe failures followed, and at least two homes have been declared unlivable.
Repair work has been fast and furious.
Crews are mobilizing each day at about 6:30 a.m., commencing work at 7 a.m. and continuing through dusk, concluding no later than 9 p.m., according to District Property Management. The work is taking place over a five- to six-week timeframe.
The costly pipe problem in the Cameron Villas has echoes of the notorious sinkholes of 2018 that ravaged nearby McLawren Terrace. Collapsed pipes were also at the heart of that drama with residents footing the bill for expensive repairs.