Flooding issues at 'America's builder' D.R. Horton subdivision in Martin County | Opinion

The next time someone suggests people complain too much about development in Florida, I'm going to tell the story of Bonnie Cooke.

Cooke, a school custodian, and her 24-year-old daughter, who is unable to work because she's afflicted with lupus, live in a small stucco house just off Kanner Highway near Stuart. The house has been in Cooke's family for generations, but Cooke doesn't feel like it's safe to live there now.

Several months ago, homebuilder D.R. Horton began site clearing work for a 65-home subdivision, known in some planning documents as Kanner Lake, which is adjacent to Cooke's house.

(Signs along the access road leading into the subdivision use the name Willow Pointe, so the actual name is a bit of a mystery.)

But whatever developers are planning to call the place, Cooke, 62, and some of her neighbors on Green Lane and at the nearby Ronny's RV Ranch and Mobile Home Park say there have been problems since clearing work at the site began.

Martin County officials have ordered D.R. Horton to stop work on the project until some drainage issues are resolved.

I tried to reach D.R. Horton for its take on what was happening at the site, but numerous messages to the company's attorneys and media representatives over the past several days have gone unanswered.

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Cooke said some of the grading work caused her house to shake so badly the foundation cracked, a problem she tried to fix by putting plastering into the cracks.

Then last fall, her property started flooding during heavy rains, which hadn't been a problem before the work began.

"I used to love rain," Cooke said. "Now I'm terrified of rain."

The access road leading to Kanner Lake/Willow Pointe from Kanner Highway sits several feet higher than Cooke's yard, making it pretty clear to even an untrained layperson where storm runoff is going to go.

During rains, her backyard turns into a makeshift "Kanner Lake," forcing her to place sandbags along the exterior walls. Her best efforts weren't enough to prevent water from seeping into a back room of the house. Over time, mold grew in the damp space.

"That mold smell is so strong in my house," Cooke said. "I had to put towels down under the doors so the smell doesn't get into the bedrooms."

Her daughter, whose immune system was already compromised by lupus, developed worsening respiratory problems that required her to spend time in the hospital.

"I almost lost my child," said Cooke, who began experiencing headaches and shortness of breath herself.

Cooke believes the construction work also caused a backup in her septic tank system, which hadn't been having problems before. Now, whenever she runs water in her bathroom or kitchen sinks, a stinky mess bubbles up through the shower drain.

"I had to plunge and plunge so the water would go down so I could take a shower," she said.

The bathroom reeks of bleach from her best efforts to keep the place clean and sanitary.

Cooke and her attorney, Howard Heims, believe the septic backup may have been caused by a drain pipe damaged during construction.

Cooke isn't the only area resident affected, either. Stephanie Kilpatrick, 58, who lives in the nearby mobile home park, said she and her neighbors have also experienced flooding, in some cases so severe that materials in their manufactured homes have warped.

Like Cooke, Kilpatrick said the mobile home park residents are also battling mold issues. According to Kilpatrick, most of the complaints they've made informally to the contractors have fallen on deaf ears.

"I guess since we live in a mobile home park, they don't feel like we count," said Kilpatrick, who is disabled with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, known as COPD. "It's affecting the health of a lot of people in here, in addition to their homes."

D.R. Horton is a mammoth Arlington, Texas-based company that bills itself as "America's largest homebuilder," with 545,000 homes in 27 states. According to its website, the company lists homes for sale in 18 subdivisions along the Treasure Coast, from Fellsmere to Jupiter.

There have been numerous complaints about D.R. Horton in media outlets around the country ― including St. Augustine and Jacksonville ― about shoddy construction practices.

Murphy Law Firm, which specializes in consumer advocacy cases in Florida and elsewhere, is organizing a class action lawsuit against the company, over issues such as excess humidity, leaks, mold and mildew buildup, and poor ventilation in Horton-built homes.

What type of compensation Cooke, Kilpatrick and their neighbors might get for their trouble remains an open question.

At one point after she began complaining, Cooke said the company offered her a settlement of $25,000 if she would agree to waive her rights to sue. She refused.

Heims said he hasn't filed a lawsuit yet, although it appears to be just a matter of time before that happens.

Here's the worst part in this mess: Martin County planning officials were concerned about possible drainage issues on the property before the site plan was given final approval five years ago.

At the Martin County Commission's Aug. 21, 2018, meeting, then-Commissioner Ed Fielding asked whether the stormwater drainage issues raised in the planning staff's report on the project had been adequately addressed.

"This is a wet area," Fielding said of the site, which formerly housed a scrapyard. "I've noticed it for the last 38 years, so I'm familiar with it. It is a concern."

Morris Crady, a former county planner whose land planning firm represented the developers at the commission meeting, assured commissioners changes to the design had been made since the initial report was prepared. With that assurance, commissioners approved the site plan by a unanimous voice vote.

"The first I heard about the drainage issue was when the resident on Green Lane (Cooke) spoke at the County Commission meeting last week," Crady emailed in response to my inquiry. "I really do not know any of the details or how it happened."

Representatives from CAPTEC Engineering Inc., which signed off on the design plans, didn't return a call.

So basically, it's looking like no one is going to step forward and take responsibility for what's happened to Cooke, Kilpatrick and their neighbors. If they're to get any relief at all, it'll most likely have to come through the courts.

And this is one relatively small (26-acre) project, approved after years of careful planning, that's having a lasting and damaging impact on its neighbors. It kind of makes you wonder about the impact of all those other projects, some considerably larger, that get approved along the Treasure Coast on an almost weekly basis, doesn't it?

This column reflects the opinion of Blake Fontenay. Contact him via email at blake.fontenay@tcpalm.com or at 772-232-5424.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Martin County families tackle Goliath builder D.R. Horton | Opinion