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Pinehurst residents demand urgent action on repeated flooding; engineer points to blocked inlets
Summary
Two Pinehurst residents told the River Ridge CDD board on June 25 that repeated flooding after recent storms has created unsafe, impassable streets and demanded the district make Pinehurst a top priority. The district engineer said blockages were found and will be cleaned; the chair requested a written remediation plan and timeline.
Residents of Pinehurst pressed the River Ridge Community Development District board on June 25, 2024, saying repeated flooding and last month’s tropical storm produced “unprecedented flooding” and created safety risks that demand immediate, well‑resourced action.
“Short of a quick absolute commitment from River Ridge that Pinehurst flooding is now a #1 or co‑#1 priority, regardless of cost, we will be forced to explore legal options,” resident Mike Dugan said during the public‑comment period, reading from a prepared statement that said Pinehurst streets were impassable and that residents expect constant updates and may provide financial support for repairs.
Another Pinehurst resident, Ed Nowak, told the board the community believes a redesigned drainage system shifted flooding away from the Masters and toward Pinehurst, and that the result is “flawed and unacceptable.” He said water was still “bubbling up from the receiver” a week after a storm and that the elevated receiver water levels merited an urgent redesign.
District Engineer Charlie Krebs said he visited the neighborhood after videos were sent to staff and identified three control structures on the flow path toward the wetlands. Krebs said MRI inspected and removed leaves from grates and flushed debris from pipes; he told the board some drains appear to be more than 25% blocked and that MRI would clean the inlets.
Chair Bob Schultz asked Krebs to prepare a written plan with an estimated timeline for resolving the Pinehurst issues and to provide it to the board, PSGRC General Manager Eric Long and the Pinehurst neighborhood representative vehicle (NVR).
Krebs’s description of on‑site inspections and the scheduled inlet cleaning provided immediate operational steps, but residents pressed for a higher‑level commitment. Dugan and Nowak said they expect River Ridge to prioritize Pinehurst during the hurricane season and warned they would pursue legal or private mitigation steps if they do not see timely, substantive action.
Later in the meeting the board approved a contractor estimate for dry‑retention flow‑way ditch cleaning adjacent to River Course Holes #6–#8 that the engineer said is part of the broader drainage work discussed by residents.
