Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Flooding Infrastructure Easement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
DeBary residents press council on repeated flooding; city outlines engineered fix for easement
Summary
Summerhaven residents described repeated yard washouts after hurricanes; city manager said the damaged city easement will be reengineered, with an external engineer finishing plans in about 30–45 days and a revised cost estimate of about $150,000–$200,000 and FEMA bidding requirements.
Kathleen Joslin, a Summerhaven resident, told the City of DeBary council that repeated stormwater washouts around her home have left neighbors paying for emergency repairs and living with an unfinished city easement that washed out during Hurricane Milton.
Joslin said the family paid more than $2,000 each in supplies and that a city-constructed drain and fill on the side of her house washed away during the storm. “It washed out. Richard had come out and, make a long story short because I'm running out of time. We ended up filling the hole ourself and placing the grass because it was told to us that it was our fault,” she said.
The matter matters to nearby homeowners because the damaged area sits in a platted city easement and adjoins private drain-field infrastructure, complicating reconstruction. City Manager (name not specified) told the council the easement was platted when the Summerhaven subdivision was created and that the city constructed an initial repair last year that Milton subsequently destroyed.
“We've been studying this particular project exactly what to do and how to do it, make sure it doesn't happen again,” the City Manager said, adding the city is working with an external engineer and expects the engineer to finish plans in about 30 to 45 days. The manager said the scope has grown: what “was about a $40,000 project, last year, this one's probably gonna be $150,000 to $200,000.”
The manager also said the city must follow Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) procurement rules for the repair because of FEMA involvement; that will require public bidding (three bids) and adds time to the schedule. He said temporary construction easements and a survey will be needed and that one homeowner’s drain field encroaches into the city easement, which complicates construction.
No formal council action was taken on the spot. The city manager told the council staff is finalizing the engineer’s scope and anticipated asking the council at the next meeting to approve final engineering payment and the construction approach. Residents were told to expect further staff follow-up and that the city considers the easement city property.
The exchange combined public comment and staff response. Joslin spoke during the public-participation portion of the regular meeting; the City Manager’s remarks occurred during the manager’s brief response and project update. The council did not authorize construction funding at the meeting; the manager said staff will return with the engineer’s final recommendations and likely a construction procurement timeline.
For homeowners in Summerhaven, the immediate takeaway was recognition by staff that the easement needs a larger engineered fix and that federal bidding and right-of-way complexity mean repairs will not be immediate. City staff asked for 30–45 days to complete engineering and for time to prepare required FEMA-compliant bid documents.
