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Resident urges Port St. Lucie to shift culvert maintenance from homeowners to city; council promises review
Summary
A resident urged the council to remove homeowner responsibility for culvert and driveway culvert sediment removal, citing Chapter 56 and county permitting; staff said the city already provides supplemental cleaning six times a year and will review options including culvert replacement programs.
At the June 9 Port St. Lucie council meeting, a long public comment from Mr. Bouchard urged the city to amend local code so the municipality — not adjacent property owners — is responsible for clearing sediment, debris and vegetation from driveway culverts and swales.
Bouchard cited Chapter 56 of the city’s stormwater management code and noted that the South Florida Water Management District typically assigns maintenance to municipalities, homeowners’ associations or other entities rather than individual property owners. He argued the section of the property maintenance code (Chapter 41) that places some responsibility on adjacent owners should be revised to align with the district’s permitting criteria.
Bouchard told the council that “property owners should not be held responsible or liable for any operation or maintenance activities associated with the city's stormwater management system,” and urged the city to implement a sediment-removal program to improve conveyance, water quality and flood protection. He also suggested replacement costs for failed culverts could be shared between homeowners and the city.
Public works staff and council members responded with procedural context and interim practices. Diane Spriggs, Public Works, said the city tries to work with applicants and that the site layout and stormwater tract configuration can complicate development solutions; she did not guarantee that every parcel could be readily converted to commercial if physical constraints remain.
Mayor Shannon M. Martin and other council members said the city has historically expected residents to keep driveway culverts and swales clean but also contracts supplemental cleaning roughly six times a year to help homeowners. Council members acknowledged that culvert replacement is a recurring concern and said staff are developing a program to address replacements and shared-cost solutions.
Why this matters: Culverts and swales are a frontline defense in local stormwater conveyance; the matter has implications for flooding, water quality, code enforcement and potential city maintenance costs.
