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Commission wrestles with sinkhole options

Regulating repairs and inspections are discussed, but builders warn about the cost.

By DAVID DeCAMP
Published December 6, 2006

DADE CITY - Pressing to ease the insurance crisis, county commissioners are looking into regulating sinkhole repairs and requiring potentially costly sinkhole inspections on new home sites.

Builders warned such stringent measures could spike home costs in a county already facing a housing slowdown.

But commissioners said they have to examine options to address sinkhole claims - particularly fraudulent ones. Pasco leads the state in sinkhole claims, causing whopping increases in rates and prompting proposals in the Legislature to reduce claims.

Spurred by newly elected Commissioner Michael Cox, who unsuccessfully sought an insurance task force, the board agreed to the work session Tuesday. Another session will be at 10 a.m. Thursday in New Port Richey, where the commission will hear from Jacksonville attorney Tim Volpe and New Jersey actuary Allan Schwartz on their work to win lower rates in Pasco from state regulators.

They also will discuss the sinkhole repair and inspection ideas in greater detail - measures that could stabilize rates over the long term but wouldn't bring immediate relief to soaring premiums, county officials said.

Currently, no permit is needed to do sinkhole repairs. Builders are not required to test for sinkholes except near retention ponds and roads. The property appraiser's online records - perused by everyone from Realtors to people shopping for homes - do not indicate which sites have a history of sinkholes or repairs.

Building inspectors can look into suspected problems, but the oversight is so loose a "heel test" is used, county officials said. The inspector digs a heel into the soil to test how compact it is.

To fill those gaps, commissioners discussed three ideas:

- Require permits showing when a sinkhole is detected and repaired. It would give the public insight into which properties are fixed and which are not.

"One of the things that's going on here, and it's affecting all rates, is there's no trackings," said Wil Nickerson of Holiday, a member of reform group Homeowners Against Citizens Florida.

- File the sinkhole repair results with the county clerk and show some of that information on the property appraiser's Web site. The office tracks some sinkhole properties reported to it - more than 1,400 counted so far - but currently doesn't post that information on the Web.

- Require builders to do a basic test on soil compaction near foundations for new homes. A minimum cost is $250 to $300, development director Cindy Jolly said. Engineer Jon Moody, president of Heavy Metal Development, said more extensive tests could cost $2,500 to even $8,000.

Cox said it may be worth the cost to find a sinkhole up front, instead of finding it later and facing tens of thousands of dollars in repairs.

But two leaders of the Pasco Building Association - Southern Image Homes president Alex Mourtakos and Avid Engineering president Robert Fudge - said developers already bore for soil samples and do other tests, though not on every lot. None want the frustration and cost if a sinkhole turns out to be under a new home, they said.

Higher costs from tests will be passed along to consumers, they said, though Fudge noted a $250 cost would not be onerous.

They also questioned what would make a gap below ground, common in Florida, into a potential sinkhole. And who would determine that? And what will happen if inspection costs soar?

"If we keep going at the rate we're going, we're going to make it so nothing is even affordable," Fudge said. "All we'll keep doing is escalating the price."

David DeCamp covers can be reached at 727 869-6232 or ddecamp@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 5, 2006, 23:54:26]