Action News Jax Investigates: Are these St. Johns County homes being built in the line of fire?
A new neighborhood that’s not even completed yet is already seeing an exodus of people who no longer want to live there. They say bullet holes in multiple homes and live fire from a nearby gun range are to blame.
Action News Jax Investigator Emily Turner talked with four families who are abandoning their plans for a forever home in a new Dream Finders Homes neighborhood in St. Johns County.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
One woman calls it a “nightmare, absolute nightmare.” She didn’t want to be identified because she’s still trying to get her $20,000 in earnest money back from the builder and doesn’t want to put that in jeopardy. But she said the whole ordeal “has been the most stressful few weeks of our lives.”
She found out the builder found multiple houses had been hit by bullets in the under construction subdivision off U.S. 1 and workers were almost hit by live fire. That’s when her family made the call to pull the plug.
Read: ‘It’s possessed:’ Family claims glass from oven exploded in front of homeowner
“We’re afraid or scared to move into the neighborhood,” she said, “and fear that a stray bullet is going to hit my kids.”
She’s one of four families Action News Jax found who are all backing out of their Dream Finders new build in the Cordova Palms development. Realtor Emily Eriksen represents one of them.
“This isn’t getting cold feet at the end of the transaction. This is a safety aspect,” Eriksen said.
Send Ben: Local woman wound up over Bulova watch
Action News Jax checked and the Dream Finders website for the Cordova Palms neighborhood boasts a dog park a splash pad and a children’s play area. But it doesn’t disclose a gun range nearby that you can very easily hear.
Saltwaters Shooting Club is about a mile to the south of the development. It has a long rifle range that for the last decade pointed into the woods. But like much of St. Johns County, those woods are being developed into housing for a quickly growing population.
Action News Jax pulled incident reports from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. On December 30, the construction manager told deputies “he has found multiple new construction homes ... with bullet holes” and “recovered 4 unknown caliber rifle rounds” from them.
Action News Jax Investigates: Odometer fraud on the rise in Jacksonville
Eight days later, there was a similar call for service, followed by an even more alarming one on January 16. According to the report, workers were out setting new home sites when bullets started hitting the ground around them.
The site manager reported it the next day, but Eriksen said it was never reported to the homeowners. That’s when her clients backed out and the real estate company called its attorney in, asking the county to “review the permitting for the development.”
“That’s their job as a builder,” Ericksen said. “When they’re picking a location, it needs to be verified that that area will be safe for homes and residential areas to be placed there and not when bullets are flying through.”
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
We reached out to Dream Finders. The company sent a statement that says, in part, “the safety and well-being of our customers, employees and vendors is the paramount priority.” It goes on to add, it “was advised by the range’s owner that the rifle range has been shut down indefinitely until such time as the rifle range is satisfactorily relocated and repositioned.” You can read the company’s full statement below.
But for the families involved, that’s not enough.
“We wanted nothing more than to move into this house,” said the anonymous homeowner, “but we don’t feel safe … and we just want to be able to break ties fully. Just give us our money back. Let us move on.”
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Action News Jax asked Dream Finders if it plans to give these families their money back. They told us, “Our primary focus has been and remains the safety of Dream Finders Homes’ customers and all other individuals who may be on site at Cordova Palms. While it is not appropriate to publicly discuss specific contract-related matters with any of our customers, we have encouraged any customers with concerns to reach out directly in order to engage with us to ensure we address those concerns.”
Here is Dream Finders’ full statement:
“The safety and well-being of our customers, employees and vendors is the paramount priority for Dream Finders Homes. Immediately upon becoming aware that bullets impacted vacant homes under construction at the Cordova Palms neighborhood, Dream Finders Homes filed a police report with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and took other immediate on-site safety measures. Simultaneously, Dream Finders Homes met in-person with the proprietor of the gun range located approximately one mile to the south of Cordova Palms to advise and provide notice of the health and safety hazards presented by the potential negligent or reckless discharge of firearms at the range. As of today, Dream Finders Homes was advised by the range’s owner that the rifle range has been shut down indefinitely until such time as the rifle range is satisfactorily relocated and repositioned. Notwithstanding this, Dream Finders Homes continues to evaluate all additional appropriate steps to further ensure the safety of our customers, employees and vendors.”
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
