Imperial Lakes residents fed up with flooding
Joan Pezzani and her neighbors have had enough of the periodic flooding of Imperial Lakes Boulevard, which serves as the only way in or out of the massive 1,700-acre golf course community with housing and commercial developments in Mulberry.
“This has apparently been going on for years and years and everyone has been accepting it as the norm," she said by phone on Friday. “Well, no more; we can’t.”
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Last week as torrential rains hit central Florida, deputies with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office directed traffic along the boulevard away from the flooding. Many residents were forced to abandon their cars. Some walked miles through flood waters in the dark to reach their homes. Others gave up and checked into a local hotel until the flood waters receded the next day.
With a daughter who has a medical condition, Pezzani, 56, is worried her family or one of the many elderly residents in the Imperial Lakes subdivisions may not be able to be reached by first responders.
“There is not a way out and emergency vehicles cannot get in,” said Pezzani, who lives on Starburst Court.
The flooded area of the county-maintained road is usually about a half mile down the boulevard near the entrance to the Belmont Park subdivision, Pezzani said. The water covers about a block and a half of the road.
Pezzani is set to appear on Tuesday before the Polk County Board of Commissioners to provide a statement to the board about the flooding. She also took to the Nextdoor apps and found many other residents fed up with the impacts of the flooding.
In emails exchanged between Pezzani and Polk County’s director of roads and drainage, Jay M. Jarvis, he told her there is a $15 million Imperial Lakes Boulevard Drainage Improvement project to address stormwater issues in the housing development that is expected to be completed within 18 months.
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In the emails shared with The Ledger, she told him she wants a “quick fix” while the county continues to come up with a permanent solution, adding the county has been aware of the issue for years.
In response Jarvis wrote: “This flooding issue only occurs during extremely intense rain events and has for several years since the development was built.”
The earliest development within the Imperial Lakes area began in the 1970s. Flooding in Imperial Lakes has been an ongoing issue for 30 years. As recently as June 2022, the board rejected a zoning change around the golf course that would have ushered in 800 apartments, due to concerns from residents about flooding, traffic and safety.
“At this time, I do not see the need to do anything on a temporary basis,” Jarvis said in the emails. “Based upon our evaluation of the flooding there are no short term fixes to address this flooding.”
Pezzani had suggested a trench beside the road or a camber in the road to keep water from accumulating on the boulevard.
Since the county received the American Rescue Plan funding, staff has explored options, which first centered on stormwater storage and rerouting runoff at the golf course but has since been analyzing sites along the boulevard for stormwater retention, Jarvis said.
“Recently the County signed a contract to purchase those properties,” he said. “We now have a clear direction and are proceeding with the design of the project."
“It is estimated that once the contract is approved for the design it will take about 12 months to design and permit the improvements,” Jarvis added. “Once the design and permitting is completed, we would then move into construction, which would be potentially a six-month process.”
Paul Nutcher can be reached at pnutcher@gannett.com.