Some Key Royale residents are fed up with their poor stormwater drainage system and are seeking answers from Holmes Beach.
Key Royale, a golf club community of 318 homes on an island in Holmes Beach, formerly known as School Key, is connected to the mainland by a humpback bridge. But some key residents fear the city leaders have forgotten about them.
With Holmes Beach working on a citywide stormwater drainage improvement plan, some residents are wondering where the aging Key Royale drainage system ranks on the project’s priority list. The club and homes — a large dredge-and-fill project — came into being in the 1960s.
Terry Flemming, a resident on Key Royale Drive, said she’s been appealing to the city for six years to help reduce the amount of water that collects in the street in front of her home even during routine afternoon rains.
“It’s been going on for a very long time,” she said of the flooding. Flemming also believes that damaged stormdrain pipes leading from the street across her property line to an outfall on Tampa Bay are causing sinkholes in her backyard. She says her poolside patio is slowly sinking but the city responded to her concerns by putting concrete in the sinking drainage hole.
“You don’t want to get into a fight with the city,” Flemming said. “I don’t. I just gave up.”
Fellow Key Royale resident Fran Derr echoed Flemming’s concerns, citing problems with the storm drains and sink holes on her property as well, near the storm drain pipes.
“It’s a safety issue,” she said, adding that she would like to see the pipes lined or replaced. “I’m afraid the city won’t fix the drainage system until a major catastrophe happens. For the first time, we are demanding something back from the city for our tax dollars.”
The residents’ issues aren’t going unheard.
Holmes Beach building official and public works superintendent Jim McGuinness said “We’re going to address these problems.” He plans to discuss the matter with city engineer Lynn Townsend and public works foreman Dave Benton.
In a Sept. 15 email to Key Royale resident Tom Carlson, Townsend said she’s working on a new priority list to complete stormwater drainage repairs and replacements in the city, including Key Royale.
While she said it may be possible to do some repairs in the near future, the larger plan will require approval and financial support from the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
She’s also planning to hold a meeting in October with Key Royale residents to hear their concerns and receive input on the city’s new master drainage plan.
Carlson told The Islander Sept. 15 he feels more optimistic after speaking with Townsend.
“There seems to be a logical way to step forward, but it will be a long-term process,” he said. “The problem is you have to get in line, you have to get in the queue. Key Royale wasn’t in the queue.”
Carlson said he would like to see the city go ahead and repair the storm drains in the problem areas on Key Royale without waiting on the development of a master plan and additional funding.
“It will take persistence,” he said. “I’m feeling good about where they are now.”