Retention Pond and Lake Ownership

Add another 28 acres.

Current ownership is the prior developer from 14 years ago. The CCRs do not go into detail about the retention pond but states we can use the lake..nothing about ownership.

My followup question is should we be paying for maintenance of this property if it is not owned by the HOA.

The storm water management devices you identify typically require expensive upkeep over the years.
Does the Association really want to own them and have that responsibility? Be careful what you wish for.

As others have said, go to your county records (the one that matters) and verify who actually owns that property and has the responsibility to maintain.

The HOA is paying 18k a year for lake maintenance. However we do not own it.

Thanks Tim. We are scheduled to turnover in a week. I wanted to make sure we weren't missing anything since its been 16 years and 4 developers.

Y'all rock. Thanks So Much.

We have two retention ponds in our neighborhood in Florida that has broken open serveral times each over the past 10 years. The hole on the far side is big enough you can see it on Google Earth. The HOA has always gotten away with threatening to put leins on peoples property's on the houses in front of these holes and they all paid to fix them everytime even though it clearly states in the Covenant it is the HOAs responsibility. One neighbor is out $35,000 so far over the years and the hole is back again. Not this homeowner. If we fix it we will have to be declared if we were to sell our house. So we started the legal battle. We are $7000.00 into this with legal fees and only got as a far as mediation. Even though everything is going our way with the rulings it not going anywhere. It's been 2 years now and both ponds are still broken wide open and are over half empty with the water now draining right out with every storm. The problem with fighting your HOA is the same as fighting your neighbors as everybody in the neighborhood is paying the HOAs laywers fees. It's not costing the board members a dime, so why should they care? Even with these giant holes being against code, getting the government organizations to step in and enforce the codes is like pulling your own teeth. The city and state has stood behind our lawsuit but when it comes to enforcing the laws they are worthless. Why are their building codes it they don't want to get involved to though the property codes are being broken to
enforce them when broken. They wrote the HOA a warning letter but I think the HOA knows it's nothing more then a bluff. I have at least 50 calls into the state who all promise this matter will be resolved but like I said it's been 2 years now and still nothing is being done about it. I dont know how many times I've heard to vote the HOA out of office. The problem is their, no one wants to work with any of these people and getting enough people to even show up to vote them out is a bigger problem as over half the homes are rentals due to we live in a military tow and they know it. Most of the rental homes are corporate owned and all they care about is the bottom line. Renters don't care and have no say in the matter. The HOA has stopped the harassment knowing they are wrong but still won't do anything about fixing them both. So now we look at this big open pit everyday as well as everybody who lives here as one of the ponds is at the entrance and was once the focal point of the neighborhood.

Oops, I meant 720.303

If you're turning over in a week and you don't know who properly owns your stormwater management system, your lakes are part of it, then you've got serious trouble. Contact your applicable Water Management District immediately and tell them where you live and that you believe ownership of your "stormwater management system" is about to be improperly transferred from your developer to the homeowners. Let them, the District, figure it all out re. the chain of ownership and responsibility over the years.

There has to have been a "drainage plan" approved by the District at some point, a construction permit granted, and an operational permit after that. The District will know all about those.

Also tell them that the HOA's governing documents do not address the responsibility for maintenance of the stormwater management system (the lakes). Most (all?) Florida Water Management Districts require that an association's governing documents include language regarding the maintenance of the stormwater system. They even provide a template to be used should you want to amend your CC&Rs.

Look at the plat(s) for your community. There might be writing on it regarding responsibility for drainage facilities.

See if your District has a website. Mine does and I was able to find more information there concerning my HOA than there is properly filed with the county for official records purposes. Much much more including a record of complaints and followup actions brought against the drainage system and/or lakes.

You have a lot to do in a week! I'd prioritize contact with your local Water Management District. Phone them like today if the office is open. Prepare a letter to them and send it first thing in the morning, certified mail. Stress that your developer is turning over the HOA to the homeowners in a week and no provisions have been made in the governing documents for the operation and maintenance of the system. Tell them ownership of the system was never conveyed to the HOA. Tell them you don't even think the developer obtained the right permits.

Do not accept garbage from the developer's people such as, "We'll take care of that later".

And one last thing... do you know the difference between a Retention Pond and a Detention Pond? There is a big difference. Check your water management district's website for publications and handbooks. I guarantee you will find too much there to absorb in just one week. What you want to do is light a fire under their (the district's) feet so that they will put a stop to the pending turnover until all matters surrounding your stormwater management system are properly resolved.

Jim, have you been in mediation for 2 years? Are you sure they are retention ponds and not retention ponds? I think your applicable Water Management District would be very interested in your situation.

Surprise, Surprise our HOA has decided fix the retention ponds in our neighborhood after St. John's Management threaten them telling them it was their responsibility as well as the city of Jacksonville all outlining what the covenant states. But even after them walking out of mediation refusing to go to Arbitration they actually hired a company to fix the ponds. Then stated in the minutes that they were going to put liens on the 2 homes. I have never scene such a abuse of power before.

Jim

Are they saying we will fix the problems but we still believe the two homeowners are responsible and we are going after them to be reimbursed?

Yes they are. They don't care that they been told over and over by State and city. They don't care it states it clearly in our covenant. They think they have this loop hole to get out of it. Basically saying the drainage system from our roadways is your totally responsibility. This has cost us alone $7,000. in legal fees. Not to mention they bullied the other homeowners who are senior citizens into past repairs costing them $35,000 of their 401K and it broke again for third time. We told the other couple do not give in and I will just add your case to my suit. So it sat for 2 years now because they refuse to back down polluting the St.Johns River. Finally I got St. John's to send them a warning letter to fix it which they ignored as well. Finally because of all the complaints as one pond is at our entrance they finally said they would fix it and plans to put a lien on our houses. This HOA president is just a bully and the 2 other board members I feel are intimidated by him as they never go against what he says. It's a power thing. So initially we were told don't even think of taking us to court as we never lose and you will pay our court costs as well. But now refuse to pay ours when things didn't look so good. They walked out of mediation and refused to accept arbitration. We lived here just 2 months longer then the rentetion pond breaking and have been dealing with this nut since. I cant imagine what the HOAn spent in lawyers fees as he doesnt feel he has to disclose anything including the meeting minute going back to August 2018 even after repeatedly requesting them.