The contractors didn't allow water to drain like it used to, which contributed to the flooding in Sierra Pines, Swiftmud says.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published September 25, 2003
LUTZ - It might be months before the floodwaters drain from Danny Otero's back yard. Then he'll face the cost of rebuilding.
New air conditioning ducts under his Sierra Pines home. A new cattle fence. A new foundation for his garden shed. And then there's the landscaping.
"All the money we spent on plants and trees, that's gone," said Otero, whose back yard has been under water since November. "It's washed away."
The Sierra Pines homeowners in south Pasco face an untold tab from the flooding - but the costs are piling up for the possible culprits, too.
The Southwest Florida Water Management District, commonly known as Swiftmud, has charged two contractors $14,600 in fines and enforcement costs for building a haul road that, the agency says, "increased the potential for flooding at Sierra Pines."
Swiftmud's governing board voted Tuesday to start legal action against MGD Suncoast LLC and Florida Fill Haulers of Land O'Lakes Inc. because the two refused to pay the fines.
That action comes on top of Swiftmud's decision last month to take brothers Peter and Nick Geraci Jr. to court over $98,930 in fines and costs, also related to the Sierra Pines flooding.
The latest controversy centers around a temporary haul road built last year to a borrow pit in the VillaRosa neighborhood, a Hillsborough community just south of Sierra Pines.
In an Aug. 7 notice of violation sent to MGD Suncoast and Florida Fill Haulers, Swiftmud says the road was built too high, and the culverts were installed at the wrong elevation. That trapped the stormwater in Sierra Pines, instead of letting the water drain to the south as it used to, Swiftmud spokesman Michael Molligan said.
"It wasn't creating the flooding," Molligan said, "but it wasn't helping the water get out of the area more quickly."
Bill Carey, an ecologist for the contractors, said the road did not contribute to the neighborhood's flooding. Many Sierra Pines homes were built in the 1970s in a low-lying area without proper drainage systems, he said.
"It's not the VillaRosa borrow pit haul road," Carey said. "It's the poor, poor construction practices in (Sierra Pines)."
He said the Swiftmud permit did not limit the height of the haul road outside the wetlands, and only one culvert was installed too high. It was replaced as soon as the contractors discovered the mistake, Carey said.
In the meantime, Swiftmud still is pursuing a separate case against the Geracis, Molligan said. The brothers own a 1,000-acre ranch with a 27-acre commercial sand pit east of Sierra Pines.
The agency accuses the Geracis of pumping rainwater from the sand pit to drainage areas that, officials say, spilled into the South Pasco Well Field and then toward Sierra Pines.
Swiftmud said the pumping also affected about 90 acres of lakes and wetlands on the ranch, filling them with stormwater that's muddier than the state allows.
Cliff Harrison, a hydrogeologist for the Geracis, said a small amount of water spilled out of the drainage areas and into the well field. More water came from rain washing off the rest of the ranch and into the well field, he said.
The Geracis stopped pumping to those drainage areas in early August, and stopped pumping altogether in late August, Harrison said. The brothers submitted a plan to build a 25-acre stormwater storage area to keep the water from spilling off the ranch, but it awaits Swiftmud approval, Harrison said.
In the meantime, he said, the brothers hope to negotiate lower fines.
"They're fixing their temporary wetlands impacts, other issues have been fixed," Harrison said. "Only $5,000 (of the fines) was related to the flooding. That shows you how much of it had to do with the flooding of Sierra Pines."
- Bridget Hall Grumet can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is bhall@sptimes.com
