CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. — The Grand Canyon is one of America’s most breathtaking sights, but Karen Johnson doesn’t have to visit Arizona to revel in its beauty.
She has a canyon of her own just feet from her Citrus County home. While hers isn’t as grand as the canyon out west, it attracts attention because it shouldn’t exist.
Johnson lives in Inverness Villages 4, a growing neighborhood outside Inverness where there are plenty of new homes but no paved streets.
She knew that was the case when she moved there in May, but she didn’t know the neighborhood also lacked a stormwater infrastructure.
“Every rain you’re anxious — every rainfall — instead of being able to enjoy it,” Johnson said.
On rainy days, her street and others in the subdivision become streams of silty, sandy slurry. Just like the Colorado River deepens the Grand Canyon over time, each heavy rain also deepens the neighborhood’s canyons, like the one near Johnson’s front yard.
“Every rain, this hole becomes deeper and deeper,” she said.
After heavy rainfall this past weekend, turning onto the streets from her driveway became almost impossible.
“My husband has to maneuver, not wanting the car to sink into the hole,” she said.
The heavy rain also deepened another of the neighborhood’s canyons, which is located in Brenda Killian’s backyard.
“It just keeps getting deeper and deeper,” she said as she stood in the chest-deep fissure.
The weekend rain not only accelerated the canyon’s erosion but also sent the loose sand downhill in a neighbor’s backyard. The patch of sand is just feet from that neighbor’s pool cage.
“She’s going to have a sand beach before long for her pool,” Killian said wryly.
The saga that created the canyon-like conditions and rough neighborhood streets is as long as it is complex.
You can read a more detailed breakdown of the situation at this link.
In an overly simplified nutshell, a county commissioner who represents the area blames the person who sold the plots of land for development and the developer who built homes on the lots without proper drainage.
However, some homeowners like Johnson think Citrus County itself could have done more in the past and should do more now.
“We’re just waiting,” said Johnson. “We’re just waiting.”
Homeowners like Johnson said they were well aware that they had to pay to pave the roads when they signed the paperwork for their homes.
She thought a Municipal Service Benefit Unit (MSBU) would be established between neighbors and the county. Such an agreement would have allowed neighbors to pay for the pavement on their tax bills over the span of ten years.
Homeowners are expected to pay around $6,500 each.
Since then, however, they learned the price could be a lot higher. According to Citrus County, the neighborhood needs more than just paved roads. It also needs drainage ponds and a stormwater infrastructure.
According to the county, each homeowner would have to pay roughly $109,000 to cover both the street paving and drainage work.
Because of that exorbitant price tag and other factors, the solution in Inverness Villages 4 currently seems as far off as the Grand Canyon is wide.
For now, all Johnson can do is pray.
“We’re trusting God. We’re believing that sound minds will prevail,” she said. “I think it can be rectified if everybody was to come back to the table — the builder, the land owners, the city, the county — come back together and work it out.”
