MILTON — Citizens have approached both Santa Rosa County and the city of Milton about what they have said are serious issues with home-building company D. R. Horton. Central and southern county residents are concerned developments are reducing stormwater drainage leading to residential flooding.
City of Milton
Homeowners Angela Donnatelli and Brett McCarthy approached the council Jan. 17 about their home on Little Leaf Court in the newly developed D.R. Horton subdivision of Magnolia Bend. Donnatelli said they had purchased a home in phase one of the subdivision right after it was built and have had issues with their home since moving in.
"The first thing we started noticing was black mold around the window sills and doorways," Donnatelli said.
Sills on the door were not built up to code, she said, and while it took a lot of frustration and fighting with the building company, that issue was resolved for a time. She said mold is starting to come back again but that is just the beginning.
"The new houses they built [in the second phase] were built at a much higher elevation," she said. "This causes rain to flow down into our backyard which has rotted our fence."
Donnatelli said they discovered the problem when two of their dogs ran away, and she says it is getting worse — the foundation around her house is eroding due to the excessive amount of rain water that stays in the yard.
"We are asking for help," she said. "We can't fight this alone."
Homeowner Jaslin Franklin, who lives behind Donnatelli and Mcarthy, said these issues are creating a negative impact on Milton.
"When we look at our community and talk about economic growth [the residents] are the ones who are bringing these builders in to build these communities," Franklin said. "It is our responsibility to hold these companies accountable to ensure the communities are safe."
Franklin said she provided the council pictures showing the building company left debris in the road, which led to punctured tires and put children in harms way. She said the neighborhood is full of children who could be hurt by what she calls the company's "lack of concern." She salso said she provided council pictures of workers acting unprofessionally on site including drinking alcohol.
"I can tell you D.R. Horton does not take pride in what they do," she said. "They are not accountable and do not want to come back to ensure the job is done."
She said that every time they have called the company about issues they were told, "The city approved it."
City manager Randy Jorgenson said the city would step in and act as a mediator between the homeowners and the developer
"In light of the fact their issues deal with area drainage … that results in a design not functioning properly and there are issues in regard to completion of the subdivision and requirements of the plat, I've indicated we will help." Jorgenson said.
Mayor Heather Lindsay thanked the homeowners and said this was the first council had heard about any issues.
"It's hard to solve a problem if communication is breaking down," Lindsay said.
Santa Rosa County Commission
Save Our Sound is a group of active homeowners in the Midway area that started out of necessity said Dara Hartigan, president of the group. Initially they had the same issues described by Milton homeowners with D. R. Horton. This particular discussion with the BOCC concerns the proposed Forest Bay Estates preliminary plat approval from D.R. Horton.
"Our dealings with the county commissioners and D. R. Horton started in 2014," Hartigan said. "That is when we had problems with flooding in our subdivision."
Hartigan said the group members educated themselves on the laws, statutes and became vocal. They also started checking on what developers were doing and holding them accountable by showing up at commission meetings and presenting their concerns.
Since then the group has been an active force in policing developers. The group admits their main concern is the peninsula they inhabit, but they will help other homeowners within the county — for example, the Whisper Creek subdivision off Berryhill Road. The D. R. Horton development had flooding issues and erosion to some homeowner's foundations.
"We had to do it because the county kept telling us their hands were tied," Hartigan said, "that they could not enforce the (land development) codes."
The commission has referred members to state statute 125.022, section 4, which reads: For any development permit application filed with the county after July 1, 2012, a county may not require as a condition of processing or issuing a development permit that an applicant obtain a permit or approval from any state or federal agency unless the agency has issued a final agency action that denies the federal or state permit before the county action on the local development permit.
The entire statute can be found at http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0100-0199/0125/Sections/0125.022.html.
Hartigan's group sees two issues here: a discrepancy in the number of wetland acres at Forest Bay Estates and the amount of county oversight over developers.
At the Jan. 24 commission meeting, Commissioner Dave Piech said the county's tax appraiser's records show 180 acres of wetlands, but the information the county received said there were only 88.76 acres. According to Hartigan, an Army Corps of Engineers study showed the proposed subdivision has 180 acres of wetlands area.
Oversight is an issue because the county does not have enough permit inspectors, Hartigan said. The commission was giving the developers a checklist for them to fill out and return without a real inspection.
"The fox is guarding the hen house," she said.
The commission approved the hiring of more permit inspectors to work on the backlog of permit requests. State statute 125.022 has language that does restrict commissioners on denying a preliminary plat authorization based on permits not being completed. The commission also approved a permit fee increase.
Following discussion, the commission voted 3 to 2 to table the preliminary plat approval for one month to find the discrepancy in the wetland acreage, an "unprecedented event," Parker said.
About the company
D. R. Horton was founded in 1978. Its President and CEO is Donald Auld and CFO is Bill Wheat. The company is headquartered out of Arlington, Texas. The company operates three separately branded divisions: Emerald Homes, Express Homes, and Freedom Homes.
The company did not respond to the Press Gazette's multiple requests for comments.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: 'No pride in what they do'