- May 16, 2024
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Palm Coast has formed a task force to investigate the problem of new home construction sites causing flooding in the yards of existing homes.
Palm Coast City Manager Denise Bevan said the task force will be composed of the city’s internal technical staff. The team will review each residence on a case-by-case basis. The first meeting was held after the City Council meeting on Nov. 14
“If you have history of flooding in your home, contact the city,” Bevan said. “Because if you don’t have flood insurance, we don’t know that you had flooding in your home.”
The flooding problem was first brought to the City Council’s attention by Birchwood Drive residents Mara Weurth and Paul Fink. A new home is being built at 98 Birchwood — the lot between Weurth and Fink’s homes — that they say is much higher than their own homes and likely to cause water damage in their yards.
Weurth and Fink are not the only Palm Coast residents with this problem, though 98 Birchwood Drive has seemed to open the floodgates of complaints.
On Thursday, Nov. 9, Weurth, Fink and other residents met at 98 Birchwood with Vice Mayor Ed Danko and Estela Living building supervisor Doug Griesemer. Estela Living is the developer of 98 Birchwood.
Multiple city staff members — including Chief of Staff Jason DeLorezo and Stormwater Deputy Director Lynn Stevens — also attended to answer questions from residents.
When asked about the lack of height regulations on new builds, Stevens said the city is reviewing its Land Development Code, and the lack of height regulation is among the topics that will be discussed.
Griesmer and city staff echoed the statements Stevens told the Observer previously: if a property is holding water after a neighboring lot is built out, it’s because the property was draining onto the vacant lots.
“The foundation height doesn’t dictate the drainage,” Griesmer said. “All I can do is tell you what we’re going to do. And I’m going to keep the water on my lot.”
Griesemer told Weurth, Fink and Danko that when the build is finished, the sides of the yard along the property will have two small drainage ditches to deliver any stormwater to the swale at the front of the yard. Palm Coast lots are required to drain from the back of the property to the front swales, Stevens said.
Griesmer even agreed to create a document guaranteeing that Estela Living will be liable if water from 98 Birchwood caused flooding on Fink and Weurth’s lots.
Danko demanded Griesmer have the owners of Estela Living call him to make that guarantee, too. At the City Council meeting on Nov. 14, Danko said he had yet to hear from them.
Kandi Stevens, a Palm Coast resident in District 2, told the Observer that her home is neighbored by two new homes that were built in the last several years. Since both builds have been completed, her property now floods, to the point that her son’s room had water damage after Hurricane Nicole.
It had never done that before, she said.
“We’re paying the tax dollars right now, not the people that are going to live in the new houses,” Kandi Stevens said at the Nov. 14 meeting. “So, we need to get our stuff fixed that we’re paying for so our houses and our yards don’t flood anymore.”
