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Pinehurst residents demand action after repeated flooding; engineer vows written plan
Summary
Residents of the Pinehurst neighborhood told the River Ridge CDD board their streets repeatedly flood and demanded a top-priority, fully funded fix; the district engineer said blockages were found and will have contractor MRI clean inlets and supply a written remediation plan and timeline.
Resident Mike Dugan opened the public-comment period at the River Ridge Community Development District meeting on June 25 by saying Pinehurst neighbors are "galvanized in one voice" over routine flooding and urged the board to make Pinehurst flooding its top priority.
"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," Dugan read from a prepared statement, saying residents would pay for sandbags ahead of future storms unless the district commits the necessary resources and provides constant updates.
Ed Nowak, another Pinehurst resident, said the neighborhood has experienced unprecedented post-storm flooding and argued the recent redesigned drainage system shifted problems from the Masters to Pinehurst. "The bottom line is the current redesigned system as far as we can see is flawed and unacceptable," Nowak said, urging a final redesign and expedited work given hurricane season.
District Engineer Charlie Krebs said he inspected Pinehurst the day of the storm after videos were sent by staff, observed that several grates and pipes were blocked, and had MRI (the district's contractor) remove leaves and flush debris. "The problem is the blockage and perhaps some of the drains along Pinehurst have blockages above 25% that need to be cleaned," Krebs said, and he agreed to have MRI clean the inlets.
Chair Bob Schultz asked Krebs to prepare a written plan and estimated timeline for resolving the Pinehurst flooding and to provide it to the Board, district staff and the Pinehurst neighborhood representative group. The engineer also noted additional easements and sketches are being prepared for longer-term improvement work tied to planned October construction.
The board did not vote on a funding commitment at the meeting; staff said loan proceeds previously discussed would cover drainage projects as part of the district's improvement scope, and the engineer's written plan is expected to clarify sequencing and cost estimates.
Next steps: the board requested the engineer's written remediation plan and timeline; the Lake & Dry Retention Audit Report will appear on the July agenda for further review.
