For residents living along Clear Water Lake, rising water isn’t just a view out the back door — it’s creeping into their yards.
The city of Apopka says a permanent irrigation pump is the solution, but homeowners argue they’re being asked to pay for a problem they didn’t create.
Brian Mater, president of the Clear Lake Landings HOA, said the lake has risen for years, swallowing fences and sprinkler lines and inching closer to homes.
“There are 20 houses along this lake,” he said. “All of their fences, their sprinkler lines, everything’s already in the water.”
He blames what he calls “overdevelopment” near the lake for the flooding.
“We didn’t cause this issue. That’s the problem,” Mater said. “If my son’s out playing baseball and he breaks a window, it’s my problem, but we didn’t cause it. The 20 people who live along this lake didn’t cause it.”
At a recent workshop, city leaders and residents debated a solution without reaching an agreement. The flooding impacts four neighborhoods, and Clear Water Lake itself is privately owned by one individual and three associations, including Clear Lake Landing.
The city has put forward an irrigation project with a $456,000 price tag. With contributions from another neighborhood and possible city funding, the cost would fall to about $2,400 per household for 142 homes in Clear Lake Landing.
Mayor Bryan Nelson has pitched the plan as a cost-saving measure, saying residents could use lake water to irrigate their lawns instead of reclaimed city water.
“The mayor was going around trying to sell this big, lovely plan that they were going to save each homeowner $50 and you will be able to pump anytime you needed to out of this lake because it was technically free water,” Mater said. “But then he turned around and said, ‘Hey, this is an asset for the community. The pump’s an asset.’ It’s not an asset. It’s a liability.”
Mater argued the city’s approach is more about covering past mistakes than fixing the problem.
“I think the mayor knows that this problem was brought in by the overbuilding here in the community, and he’s going to say, ‘Hey, I went over there. I put this pump in over there and I helped them out.’ You don’t do that if you’re not wrong,” Mater said.
City leaders said another workshop will be scheduled next month to continue discussions.