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Homeowners sue over dredging of creek
By JOSH ZIMMER © St. Petersburg Times, published November 29, 2000 TAMPA -- After heavy rains caused flooding in 1995, Hillsborough County dredged a large section of Upper Sweetwater Creek in an effort to improve the water's flow on its way to Tampa Bay. But in the exclusive Sweetwater development, residents say, their quality of life has been sinking ever since. The county overdug the waterway, they say, creating silt buildups in Lower Sweetwater Creek that prevent many of them from using their boats. On Monday, six homeowners took their complaints to Hillsborough Circuit Court. Accusing the county of stonewalling, they filed a lawsuit seeking a halt to all dredging work on the creek and a removal of the accumulated silt. They also are seeking reimbursement for related costs and possible damages. "We just feel their strategy has been talk, talk, talk to make us go away or have any liability to get swept away by time," homeowner and plaintiff Jack Berlin said Tuesday. "They keep on saying, "We didn't cause this.' Well, who did? God didn't do that." Calls to the county attorney's office were not returned Tuesday. Hillsborough County public works director Bernardo Garcia could not be reached for comment. Berlin, who described a silt island 1,200 feet long and 20 feet to 50 feet wide, said residents tried working out a solution with county officials. After noticing the accumulation of silt south of Memorial Bridge, they contacted the county, thinking it had been dumping in the creek. Then the facts about the project came out. By late 1998, Berlin said, the commission had acknowledged the county's role in the problem and voted 6-0 to find a solution. But to the homeowners' disappointment, the commission voted for non-binding arbitration. Discussions in the past two years have been fruitless, Berlin said. More and more homeowners in the community of $300,000 and $400,000 homes have lost the use of their waterfront property. The county, he said, violated state and federal estuary protection rules by dredging too deeply and causing soil erosion by failing to replant natural vegetation. The major digging occurred north of Hillsborough Avenue. "Initially, they didn't even have a permit to do that," the homeowners' attorney, Douglas Manson, said. "They went back and got one." Berlin said nine homes are directly affected, and he accused the Southwest Florida Water Management District of failing to enforce watershed regulations. "I would guess they have lost $50,000 to $75,000 (in individual home values). No one there has tried to sell a home in the last several years. "I worked long and hard to afford a house on the water," he said. "To be honest, if they'd fix this thing and pay our legal fees we'd go away."
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