PALM COAST, Fla. – More than two-dozen residents met with some members of their city council Saturday night at the Palm Coast Community Center 6 regarding flooding on their properties.
News 6 has been telling you for months that the residents say their homes are flooding as a result of new development near their neighborhood that’s taller than their homes.
Mara Wuerth helped residents sign in before the meeting started.
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“A lot of people have come out very angry,” she said about the first meeting of the concerned citizens.
“I met this one woman who has been calling the city for three-and-a-half years with no resolution, whatsoever,” Wuerth said. “They tell people, ‘Go sue your neighbor. Go sue the builder.’”
Wuerth said she’d like to see the city change how high new construction is allowed to be.
In a report from News 6 investigator Louis Bolden, city officials confirmed its technical manual states finished floor elevations must be a minimum of 12 inches above the crown of the road, but there is no maximum requirement, so the builders aren’t doing anything wrong.
Wuerth suggested capping that height at a foot or a foot-and-a-half.
“That is more reasonable,” she said. “But they’re still, I think, ready to propose something that’s about like three feet higher than what is normal and that is still going to create a lot of issues.”
Wuerth said the issue has brought the community together in efforts to get results.
“Everybody’s working so hard,” she said. “We care about this city so much. We love it. We want to save it. We want to keep it beautiful.”
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