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Riverplace CDD director urges city to enforce bond requirements for Hawks Ridge; staff says bond-review process underway
Summary
A Riverplace community director told the council the city's bond-process oversight has left residents paying attorneys to enforce developer obligations; staff said the bond review process and assigned points of contact will follow up.
Christina Lynch, a Riverplace resident who also identified herself as a director on the community development district (CDD) board, told the City Council she and her neighbors have struggled to get timely answers from city staff about a bond tied to the Hawks Ridge community.
“My name is Christina Lynch. I’m at 702 Northeast Waters Edge Lane,” Lynch said during public comment. She told the council she contacted nine city employees over the past 52 days before receiving a response and said the response she received from city staff was “seemingly generic.”
Lynch said Hawk Ridge residents have incurred legal fees to enforce developer obligations covered by the bond and urged the city to ensure that bond reviews include a check on missing landscape plans and other community documents. “The bond is the last line of defense for our residents,” she said, and added that residents “should not need to hire legal teams to keep the promises that these builders and developers promise and don’t fulfill.”
After public comment the mayor asked staff to address the issue. A city staff member who spoke at the meeting said he had been copied on the same email and described the response from Miss Hertz as laying out the bond-review process and identifying departmental point persons. The staff member said Lynch should expect to be contacted in the coming days by staff identified in that correspondence.
Council members also asked that staff ensure responsiveness to Lynch’s follow-up requests. Another staff member said: “I’ll make sure that gets happen that happens right away.”
No formal action or vote was taken by the council at the meeting; the discussion closed with staff committing to follow up with multiple point persons and to pursue the records Lynch requested. Lynch’s remarks referenced a specific bond review and the city’s internal correspondence; the council did not announce a timeline for closure or a separate enforcement action during the meeting.
