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SHELAINE PETERSThe sinkholes opened on a site being cleared for new homes. Officials are keeping a wary eye on the situation.
VALRICO - Sinkholes keep appearing across the road from Cheryl and David Lively's new home on Robert Travis Avenue.
Friday morning there were four more.
"It's like an everyday thing, watching it, taking pictures, making sure it's not happening in your yard," said Cheryl Lively.
The new sinkholes formed overnight in an old orange grove being cleared for a 77-house subdivision called Carriage Park. The holes were not huge - the largest was about 15 to 20 feet wide and 80 feet deep - but they were just yards from Miller Road, a busy two-lane street. That worried Sgt. James Sutton of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
"There's a school bus stop near here," Sutton said.
Deputies kept a stretch of Miller Road - from Lumsden Road to Robert Travis Avenue - closed for three hours Friday morning until a Department of Transportation worker determined the sinkholes posed no threat to the roadway.
Residents who walk and drive Miller Road worried that the heavy rain expected this weekend might worsen the situation.
Developer Don Chadwell, owner of Chadwell Homes Corp., said his workers have filled in other sinkholes on the site. He said engineers examined the area earlier this week to determine how to fix the problem, but he has not gotten the results of that study yet.
The problem "should be resolved pretty quickly," he said.
Carriage Park is envisioned as a subdivision of 77 custom homes, starting at $200,000. Chadwell said the sinkholes won't affect his development plans.
"Just because you have a problem with the ground in that one area, it doesn't mean the whole subdivision is no good," he said.