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Valrico
Whether pond or wall, something's causing floods
Neighbors sue, blaming a retention pond. A shopping complex says the trouble is a wall and starts taking it down.
By S.I. ROSENBAUM
Published June 24, 2005
Fred Cropper has three bathrooms in his house, and none of them work.
When it rains, his yard floods. The toilets back up, one by one. For the past two weeks, Cropper and his family have been reduced to using the toilet in their RV out in the driveway.
"I have the most expensive Port-A-Potty in Hillsborough County," Cropper said.
It's a problem Cropper has been dealing with for two years, ever since the Publix-anchored shopping center opened behind his house, off Lithia Pinecrest Road.
In 2003, the county Water Department installed huge pumps to drain residents' yards. This time around, there are no pumps. A spokeswoman from the Water Department said the County Commission hadn't asked them to install any this time.
Cropper maintains that a poorly designed retention pond sends stormwater into his back yard, flooding his septic system.
Cropper and two neighboring households - Charles and Mavis Thornton and Fred and Patricia Ball - have sued the shopping plaza, the developers and Publix for $400,000 in lost property value stemming from the alleged design flaw.
The case is still making its way through the legal system, Cropper said. But Paradise Development Corp., the company that built the plaza, is trying to fix the problem another way.
In 2003, the company's design firm claimed that there is nothing wrong with the plaza's retention pond - that the problem lies with the masonry wall built to block the view of the shopping center from residents' back yards.
The wall, the firm said, also blocks a runoff ditch that would have directed water away from neighboring homes.
This week, construction crews began moving the wall.
Cropper is skeptical that the measure will succeed.
"You can't print what I think," he said. "It's not going to do nothing."
S.I. Rosenbaum can be reached at 661-2442 or srosenbaum@sptimes.com
[Last modified June 23, 2005, 01:01:07]
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