A widow who has been trying to sell her home failed to receive help with a problematic pond which has soured buyers on her property.
Linda Loughlin and her late husband bought their courtyard villa in 2004 in Villa Berea in the Village of Polo Ridge. An “environmental accident” at a golf course accelerated the growth of foliage in the section of the pond close to her home.
She said for many years there were cranes, blue heron, bald eagles, snakes and turtles frequently spotted at the pond.
“Now we have nothing. It’s just an eerie, eerie quiet,” Loughlin told the Community Development District 3 Board of Supervisors on Friday morning at their meeting at Savannah Center.
She was at the meeting in an effort to seek help with the retention pond which is maintained by CDD 3.
Loughlin said the vegetation is out of control.
“This growth is 12 feet tall. It is not maintained. There is no wildlife,” she said.
Her cause was being championed by CDD 3 Supervisor Gail Lazenby, who described himself as a frequent visitor to the Loughlin home for many years.
“I never saw the pond ever look like this before,” Lazenby said.
Blair Bean of District Property Management described the vegetation in question as fire flag, which grows in swamps and wet ditches from the peninsula west to the central panhandle of Florida. He said it is deemed “beneficial vegetation” and it is not trimmed as part of District policy.
“Trimming it back would create an opportunity for nuisance vegetation,” Bean said.
Supervisor Steffan Franklin worried that special trimming and mowing at the pond could set a precedent that would open a pandora’s box.
“If we fix hers it’s going to be another and another and another. Do you know how much money it would cost us?” he asked. “Hell, I can show you a lot of homes where the pond is down and views have changed.”
The board agreed that a drone would be used to fly over the pond and take fresh photographs that will be discussed at the next board meeting.
