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Elderly couple fighting Pasco County over culvert DRAINAGE COUPLE, COUNTY BATTLE OVER DITCH

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 26, 2008

PORT RICHEY - The milky brown stream flows west, through a maze of underground culverts, stormwater drains and open canals lined with trash and dead fish, to the small piece of property where Harlan and Virginia Farmer settled nearly a half century ago.

That's where it ends.

A drainage ditch on the Farmers' property, along U.S. 19 and Springer Drive, has been clogged with debris for the past year; impeding the flow of one of Pasco County's main regional drainage systems that diverts stormwater runoff to the Gulf of Mexico.

When the rains come, the upstream culverts overflow into neighborhoods, flooding streets and roads, a nearby mobile home park and dozens of commercial properties.

Residents and business owners in the area are fuming.

County officials say they have tried to enter the property to clean out the ditch.

So far, the Farmers have refused.

And that's where things get complicated.

Couple File Lawsuit

In December, the Farmers filed a lawsuit against Pasco County, asking a judge to force the county to stop using the ditch. The lawsuit alleges that the ditch, which was created by the mosquito control board in the late 1950s, was not intended for drainage use.

The Farmers' attorney, James Helinger Jr. of Clearwater, argues that the county has "illegally" expanded the culvert system through their property over a period of years.

As a result, he claims, their property has been eroding into the ditch and culvert that runs past the stilt house where they live, swallowing up palm trees and large chunks of earth.
Helinger calls the county's actions a violation of his client's constitutional protections.

"This is an egregious example of government trampling on a citizen's rights," he said.

Making matters worse, he said, the presence of the ditch on their property has prevented them from selling the 1.6-acre, commercially zoned parcel to potential developers.

"They can't do anything with this property," Helinger said. "And it's the county's fault."

He wants the county to reroute its regional drainage system or, alternatively, to purchase the Farmers' property, which was previously on the market for more than $1.35 million.

Assistant County Attorney Nicki Spirtos said the Farmers came to the county with a demand to fill in the ditch. When the county declined, she said, they filed a lawsuit.

"We see no legal basis for the Farmers to ask the county to fill in the ditch, or to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to purchase their property," she said.

Spirtos said the county has the legal authority to discharge stormwater though the culvert because it replicates the historical flow of water through the neighborhood.

"The water has always flowed in that direction," Spirtos said. "They the Farmers have presented no evidence that the water didn't historically flow across their property."

Intent Was Mosquito Control

The Farmers bought the property in 1958, back when congested U.S. 19 was a sleepy two-lane north-south roadway and west Pasco nothing more than a rural outpost.

Shortly after, county officials approached them with a proposal to place a ditch on the property as part of an effort to control the breeding of disease-bearing mosquitoes.

The Farmers agreed.

A permit, issued by the then-West Pasco Mosquito Control Division on Sept. 16, 1958, states that the ditch could be removed if the owners wanted to develop the property.

"Be it further understood, that this agreement will not be binding in the case of future desired development of this property by the owner," the one-page document states.

County officials say that statement refers to a pre-existing ditch on the property.
Helinger claims that, over the years, the county has converted the ditch into part of its regional drainage system, diverting stormwater through the Farmers' property without their permission or permits from the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

After the hurricanes of 2004, when culverts overflowed from drenching rains, the county added two more large culverts to the drainage system running under Springer Drive.

That increased the flow of stormwater through the Farmers' property, according to Bruce H. McArthur of Sprinkle Consulting, a private Lutz-based firm employed by Helinger.

"The county expanded these culverts, knowing that there wasn't a good outfall," he said. "And they didn't even pull permits for the project, which is a clear violation of state law."

County officials say they didn't need Swiftmud permits to expand the culvert system.

Michael Garrett, an engineer with the county's stormwater division, said he thinks that the clogged ditch is causing flooding in the area, not the increased flow of stormwater.

"The obstructions are hindering the flow of water through the ditch, causing water to back up upstream, and causing adverse effects upstream," he stated in an affidavit included in court documents. "Cleaning the ditch will improve the flow of water."

County Seeks Permission

The dispute reached a flashpoint two weeks ago, when a series of rainstorms increased stormwater flow through the culvert system, flooding upstream neighborhoods.

Roads inside the nearby Suncoast Gateway Mobile Home Village were turned into rivers under several inches of fetid water and dozens of local businesses also were affected.

Adding to the surge of stormwater, Magnolia Valley Golf Course operators turned on a pair of water pumps to dry out the fairways. The added water overwhelmed the system.

As irate residents and business owners called county officials to complain, public works crews asked for permission to go onto the Farmer's property unclog the drainage ditch.
Helinger responded by getting a "no trespass order" banning workers from the property.

County officials went before Circuit Judge Linda Babb on July 16 seeking an emergency injunction to grant access to the property; the judge declined to consider the motion because the Farmers' attorney wasn't at the hearing. Another hearing on the county's request has been scheduled for Monday in a west Pasco courtroom.
Helinger said he's only looking out for his clients' interests.

"If they clean out that ditch, it will further erode the Farmers' property," he said.

To alleviate the flooding, county workers set up a makeshift pumping station on nearby Leo Kidd Drive to divert some of the stormwater out of the low-lying neighborhood.

The water subsided, but the source of the flooding remains unresolved.

A resolution to the dispute will likely be hard-fought. Both sides are refusing to give into demands of the other and harsh words have been exchanged between both camps.

"We've tried to resolve this nicely, but the arrogance the county has shown my clients is astounding," Helinger said. "They've done everything they can to derail a resolution."

Spirtos said the county, too, has tried to resolve the dispute outside of a courtroom.

The ideal solution, Helinger argues, is for the county to buy his clients' property.

"Then they can do what they want with it," he said.

Deborah Parker, whose double-wide on Afton Lane was flooded two weeks ago, doesn't think that's right. She wants to see the dispute resolved; but not in the Farmers' favor.

"I don't think the county should give them a dime," she said.

Christian M. Wade can be reached at (727) 815-1082 or cwade@tampatrib.com.

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