Sinkhole forms beside site of first near Scott Lake in South Lakeland
LAKELAND — For the second time in three months, a substantial sinkhole has formed on the west side of Scott Lake in unincorporated Lakeland.
The depression that formed Friday is just south of one that developed exactly three months earlier, on June 8. As of 3 p.m. Friday, the crater measured about 12 feet deep and 50 feet across at its widest point, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
The sinkhole was visibly growing on Friday afternoon. Clods of dirt periodically slid down its walls, and a crack was widening about four feet from the eastern edge of the hole.
Authorities had spray-painted a dotted orange line around the perimeter of the sinkhole.
The Sheriff’s Office closed traffic on Scott Lake Road but had reopened the road to traffic in both directions by about 2:30 p.m.
The initial sinkhole grew about 75 feet wide and 25 feet deep. The crater has since been filled, and it is no longer visible as vegetation has grown over it.
The new sinkhole is closer to Aiden Lane, which juts off the west side of Scott Lake Road. The small road is the site of preparation work for apparent residential construction. A set of cinder-block columns stood beside Aiden Lane, about 20 feet from the edge of the sinkhole.
As reporters captured photos and video, a truck with an “oversize load” label arrived on Aiden Lane, carrying a wheel loader. As of 3 p.m., the wheel loader sat parked along the southbound curve of the street.
The sinkhole is just south of a creek that runs out of Scott Lake and behind the small neighborhood of Marina Cove. The no-outlet street of nine houses shoots off from Fitzgerald Road to the south.
Alyssia Totten, a resident of Marina Cove since 2007, stood near Aiden Lane on Friday afternoon and gazed warily at the sinkhole. Totten shot video with her phone as clumps of dirt fell loose and slid into the crater.
“I'm certainly worried for those that are closest,” Totten said. “The last I heard was that they had 30 days to make a plan after the last one, and I haven't heard anything since. But I hope that there's a plan. This is nerve racking.”
She pointed to the near edge of the sinkhole.
“I mean, right here, that piece right there is going to fall before the day ends,” she said.
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The boundary lines of the Marina Cove properties nearest to the sinkhole appeared to be about 30 yards from its edge. No one answered at the front doors of the two closest homes Friday afternoon.
Totten said the sinkhole formed in an area intended for a retention pond. She said it seemed unsafe to place the water weight of a pond atop such unstable ground.
“So at what point do we hold people accountable?” Totten said. “This doesn't just impact this neighborhood (being built). I appreciate that somebody owns it and it's their land, but what about the loss of value on our homes or the potential loss of property and, God forbid, lives?”
She added: “I do not believe that construction should be occurring in this location.”
About a week after the first sinkhole formed in June, crews had filled it with dirt. Officials from the Southwest Florida Water Management District deemed the site to be stable.
Both sinkhole locations are on property owned by Acres at Scott Lake LLC, a company owned by Lakeland residents Debra and Joseph Kedzuf, according to state records.
Documents submitted to Polk County indicate plans to build a six-home subdivision on the roughly 9.7-acre property, The Ledger reported in June. The first sinkhole occurred when a contractor was drilling on the site of the planned retention pond and hit a pressurized pocket underground.
A drainage structure could be seen a few feet from the northwest edge of the sinkhole Friday afternoon.
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Another sinkhole forms near Scott Lake in South Lakeland
