Oviedo passes development despite flood worries

• By Isaac Babcock, Tim Freed
• August 6, 2014 9:17 a.m.
• Archive, Archive

A development that nearby residents fear will cause more flooding in their neighborhood has been given the go-ahead by the Oviedo City Council Monday. But engineers for the developer say the project will reuse water that overflows from the neighborhood.

The Council approved an annexation, comprehensive plan change and zoning map change for the 19-acre project at the intersection of Panther Street and Lake Charm Drive, near an area that’s already been prone to flooding.

“The flooding has come up to people’s patios – frankly it’s a safety hazard,” said Bob Vurge, from the Preserve at Lake Charm homeowners’ association.

Flooding can become an issue in areas that used to have water-absorbing dirt or sand and are paved over with concrete and asphalt.

“It just concerns me with all that clay and all the houses – now you’ve got less space for the water to percolate,” Councilman Steve Henken said of the water issue.

The issue had already been brought to light in an earlier meeting:

Oviedo residents fear flooding issues by Tim Freed

But the project continued to be advanced.

Resident Donald Peterson said that drainage ditches that channel rain water were never intended to be able to channel enough flood water to avoid problems.

“[The ditches] were there to drain cow pastures, not four subdivisions,”Peterson said. “I don’t understand how they can keep any more water out of that ditch.”

Peterson said that gopher tortoises were on the property and hadn’t been relocated.

Resident Roberto Gaier accused the Council of dropping the potential flooding issues at the feet of the developer, which in turn would be left for residents to deal with.

“You’re passing the problem over,” Gaier said. “It seems on the criminal side.”

Engineer Charles Madden from Madden, Moorehead and Glunt, speaking about the drainage issues, said that the project would include a “circulation system” that would reuse the water.

“What we’re proposing is a couple on-site retention ponds,” Madden said. “We want to reuse that water…it turns into a circulation system. We obviously aren’t going to fix the issues that are there, but we certainly aren’t going to make them any worse.”

But residents didn’t believe it would be enough.

“We’re in a community,” Gaier said. “If we don’t take care of each other, we’re going to have a lot of issues.”

Despite the uproar, the Council passed all three votes, including annexing land from Seminole County, unanimously.