BELLVIEW, Fla. — Residents along Bellview Avenue are speaking out on drainage concerns. This is while the county is discussing a proposed development that would put 134 more houses on 20 acres.
Some residents are against the development altogether. Others say they’d be for it if their wastewater system and retention ponds are updated to handle it.
The “Skyline Subdivision” is a housing development proposed by SNS Acquisitions. The developer has applied to rezone the area from low density residential to medium density.
This will allow 134 single-family homes to be build on roughly 20 acres. Neighbors behind and right across the street are saying problems need to be addressed first along Bellview.
“We don’t have proper drainage. And it’s a problem. It’s a big problem,” said resident Gwen Eubanks. “And always has been a problem and they hadn’t addressed the problem. They just started wanting to sell land and build homes. Address the issue first.”
The retention pond for the Rosewood Estates, right beside the property, floods into that neighborhood. And it also floods streets across from Bellview Avenue.
“When it rains real hard, our toilets will actually back up. They don’t overflow,” resident Larry Fetterman said. “But we get a good heavy rain, 3 inches, 4 inches. The toilets will fill up and they just don’t overflow.”
Residents say it gets up to 4 ft. of standing water at the entrance of the neighborhood. With that flooding, first responders cannot enter the neighborhood.
The developer says they want to fix the flooding at Rosewood Estates, and meet the needs of Skyline Subdivision.
“We’re trying to upgrade old issues with new developments,” said the developer.
Flood expert Chris Curb says even if the developer meets the county’s standard, it’s not good enough because the county’s code is outdated.
“The county’s design standards for stormwater, they use 1979 rainfall data that DOT [Florida Department of Transportation] has archived and said do not use for design,” Curb said. “It’s between two to two point, two to two and a half inches more rainfall.”
Plus, some are worried about traffic, especially during school hours with Bellview Elementary School less than a quarter mile away.
“And the schools down there, this is the only sidewalk,” Fetterman said. “So that means the kids are going to have to come across this road all the time. Somebody’s going to get killed.”
The request to rezone and develop the property was passed by the Escambia County Planning Board. It will now go before the county commissioners for more public comment and final approval.
“I told my husband, I was like, when it first came up I was like, ‘Listen, I can’t do this. I didn’t want to do this.’ You know, and he was like, ‘Well, let’s see how it goes,'” Eubanks said. “No, I just hope they get it right because they have not addressed the issue at hand and it’s like they’re putting a Band-Aid on top of it.”
The final public hearing on this development is set for Aug. 7 during the regular Escambia County Commissioner’s meeting.