Florida neighborhood floods regularly after homeowner plugs its only drainpipe

ORLANDO, Fla. — Angry that a stormwater pipe runs through her yard, a Seminole County woman plugged the conduit with concrete. Now residents of the Shadowbay Club community say their flooded roads are nearly impassable after heavy rainstorms.

Even more frustrating for homeowners: Seminole officials say there is little they can do to solve the nightmare because the streets and stormwater infrastructure in Shadowbay are owned by the community and are not public property.

“It’s an atrocious wrongdoing,” said Jennell Taylor, who bought her home the same April day a concrete company sealed the stormwater pipe. “And we keep getting the runaround from the county, and no one seems to want to help us…It’s terrifying, and it’s insane.”

Shadowbay — a community of just over 100 homes and condos off Wekiva Spring Road near Longwood — has no history of flooding. But now standing water will sit for days on driveways and sidewalks after an average summer thunderstorm. Taylor and other residents recently laid sandbags in front of their homes to help prevent water from seeing or even flowing in. They’ve even erected signs that tell drivers “Slow, No Wake Zone” along their community’s roads.

And many are puzzled as to how a single resident could have the temerity to signal one of the few avenues for rainwater to flow out of their neighborhood, as the peak of hurricane season approaches.

In June, the Shadowbay Club Homeowners’ Association filed a lawsuit asking a circuit court judge to order Diane Goglas to either immediately remove the concrete from the drainage pipe or replace it with a new pipe. As of Wednesday, Judge Donna Goerner had not yet scheduled a hearing on the request.

“The stormwater — which was designed to go through the pipelines to the retention pond and eventually into Lake Brantley — now has nowhere to go,” attorney Barbara Billiot Stage said in asking for the injunction on behalf of the HOA. “The streets on June 6 were flooded with stormwater reaching the middle of the driveways of some homes. The flood waters were deep enough to prevent people from reaching their homes while others were unable to leave their home without risking damage to their vehicles.”

Residents have also pleaded for help from the St. Johns River Water Management District, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection and even the Army Corps of Engineers. Like Seminole County, those agencies said there is little to nothing they can do.

Goglas declined to speak to a Sentinel reporter, saying she would direct any questions to her attorney.

A Realtor, Goglas bought her 3-bedroom, single-story home near the northeast shore of Lake Brantley, in 2012, according to county records.

For years, she has claimed the 110-foot pipe — which runs along a 20-foot easement between her home and the adjacent house — has eroded her yard as stormwater from the streets flows into a grate along Shadowbay Boulevard in front of her home, through the pipe, and then into the retention area behind her house, according to emails and documents from residents.

Goglas said in his communications that the three Shadowbay homeowners’ associations — made up of 114 homes — have neglected to maintain the pipe. It was installed in the early 1980s, a decade before Ella’s Goglas’ home and nine others along Shadowbay Boulevard were built in 1993, according to county records.

In March, neighbors say, Goglas knocked on their doors and handed out a letter falsely claiming the pipe “was installed on my property, without my permission.” She warned she would signal it.

“I advise you of this, because once I close that pipe off: you will have a drain problem that will back up on the road, and on your property, and potentially on my property, because the drain, as I said, goes through my property without my permission, or without my authority,” Goglas’ letter states.

She kept her promise.

On April 13, workers arrived with a mixer truck, lifted a manhole cover in her yard and sealed the conduit with concrete. Nearby residents and county employees — who were called to the scene — stood dumbfounded while shooting photos.

In May, Seminole issued Goglas a county code violation for “causing damage to pipes and drainage structures” of a stormwater system. The citation also ordered Goglas to remove the concrete and repair the existing stormwater pipe and inlets. As of Thursday, she had not done so.

A hearing before a county magistrate judge was originally scheduled for Aug. 8. But it has since been rescheduled to Sept. 12 to give county staff more time to investigate the issue and conduct a property title search. That’s added to residents’ frustration as the flooding continues.

County officials have met with residents several times since April. Last month, they provided the neighborhood with a mountain of sand and hundreds of sandbags. They also have increased spraying for mosquitoes and other insects, which lay eggs in standing water.

In a July 8 letter to homeowners, Seminole officials urged the Shadowbay community “to procure a pump to help mitigate the localized flooding caused by summer afternoon thunderstorms.”

The letter warned residents that a code enforcement citation “will not resolve the flooding” in the short term. A magistrate can only impose fines — up to $300 a day — and eventually place a lien on the property. But state law prohibits Seminole from foreclosing on a homesteaded property, such as Goglas’ home.

Because Shadowbay is a private community that owns and maintains its roads and other infrastructure, “it’s a private property dispute,” assistant County Manager Kristian Swenson said.

Even so, residents say the county should do more to protect them, particularly considering the risk if a powerful tropical storm rolls through Central Florida and dumps several inches of rain.

“If a hurricane comes through here, then the whole neighborhood and the homes will be flooded,” said Catherine Bourne, who owns a home in Shadowbay she rents to her elderly parents. “And this neighborhood has rarely experienced flooding.”

Commissioner Lee Constantine, whose district includes Shadowbay, said Seminole staff is doing as much as it can.

“I feel their frustration,” Constantine said of the homeowners. “And we’re trying to help. But there’s only so much we can do…I am sorry that some of the residents are not happy that it hasn’t happened fast enough. But there are legal implications.”

Robin Rodriguez, a Shadowbay resident since 2020, said Seminole County could have headed off the current difficulty. When the county approved the Shadowbay development decades ago, officials should have set legally enforceable restrictions on what homeowners can do with the infrastructure on the easements running through their properties, she argues.

Now, if the community floods to the point of homeowners having to be evacuated, then all taxpayers will end up footing the bill.

“This impacts everyone,” Rodriguez said. “And if Seminole County has no intention of doing anything to help the citizens here, then just tell us all in plain, non-political language.”

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