Pace drains through Floridatown

Dear editor,

Weather is an increasing issue to Santa Rosa County. Preparedness and preparation have become paramount to its citizens.

Storms that were once considered 100-year storms are now occurring with a frequency rate up to several times a year. The storm drainage system of Santa Rosa County is ill to deal with the influx of new housing and business that we have come to enjoy.

It is time for a growing county to address the issues of connecting roads and sidewalks with a storm drainage system that efficiently moves water in natural directions, not at the whim of the highest bidder. 

It doesn’t take an engineer to know that water will flow downgrade and is seeking to enter the bay. It is incomprehensible that our county has ignored the signs of increased water damage to property owned by the county and its citizens.

Why should we continue to throw good money after bad, because we refuse to find the resources to support a larger project?

 As an example, I own property (on) Edgefield Street, located in Floridatown. Floridatown is an old settlement and has a street design that is 100 years old. Much of the county-owned “streets” are still wooded. This poses a threat to private property when county-owned property is ignored and storm water drains onto privately owned land.

My property is bounded by two county streets that have poor drainage: Edgefield street at the front and Kentwood street to the rear. The slightest rain will cause undue runoff to both.

Edgefield is a four-block street occupied by children and retirees. It leads to the only waterfront park in Pace. A small portion of the street has an adequate ditch, as I noted on a walk in the rain on June 21 — the day Tropical Storm Cindy arrived in our community. The rest of the street’s berm is flat and does not drain.

The Floridatown Park has a huge watercourse that enters the bay southeast of the playground. Yet, with all the rain, only about a third of the duct was full of water that is supplied from Kentwood Street. Kentwood is another street in which a ditch is not fully cut. As I walked my neighborhood, I found water from Edgefield street does not continue under San Diego Street, but circles back around to the Kentwood ditch already full.

The Kentwood Street issue leads me to the bigger problem of (Edgefield Street) property. Water arrives from an unknown source through county property to cross the entire breadth of (Edgefield Street). This water could easily be directed down Kentwood Street to the watercourse where it belongs. 

Instead, it runs directly under and around my house, destroying the foundation of my home and decks that are sitting on concrete pillars in the sand and now silt. The flow washes out my driveway and cuts channels of water under my sheds. The damage continues to increase with each incident. 

In 2014, we placed a claim with FEMA only to receive a check for $600. Certainly, not a dollar figure that could fix anything.

More damaging is the fact that if we had replaced the foundation and added more clay to the driveway it would still be under the influence of poor county drainage and the damage would continue as we throw good money after bad.

We cannot repair or improve our private property unless the county takes responsibility for their property so close to the bay.

Money was designated to the Floridatown Park after the storm of 2014. However, the damage continues, not just from the rise in seawater but also from the poor drainage issue that the county has refused to address. The county’s interest in the area is notable yet incomplete.

I would like to participate in the improvement of Floridatown and Pace’s only waterfront recreation area. The question is does Santa Rosa County want to improve their land or would they prefer to purchase mine for the use of their drainage? 

BETTY TERRY

Pace

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This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Pace drains through Floridatown