LANTANA, Fla. — The town of Lantana will hold a workshop Monday to discuss possible solutions to stormwater and drainage issues.
They’re considering a potential fee on taxes to residents to help with flooding.
“The vision is this would be a fee that would help us with the storm water system and the capital improvement projects that are associated with that,” Eddie Crockett, the director of public services for the Town of Lantana, said.
Crockett said the money could go toward upgrading systems, pipes, drainage and maintenance.
"I mean it's definitely a real issue. It's a fear that comes up quite a bit," said Leah Freeman, who lives in Lantana.
Lantana has had its history of flooding over the years. One part of town that sees flooding is Hypoluxo Island.
"Pretty much every day, everything that's like the concrete or the asphalt is covered in water and then basically the entire middle section of our back yard is filled with water," John Mock, who lives and grew up on Hypoluxo Island, said.
Mock said a casual storm can bring water halfway up his driveway and flood the roadways.
"It's getting close to the point where we're going to have to raise the house, which is a massive cost, and at a certain point we're going to have to give up the property," Mock said. "We check the rain everyday to see what the conditions will be when we're getting out of the driveway."
According to a town manager’s report, a workshop was held on Dec. 12, 2022 to discuss the engineer’s preliminary findings and they finalized their report on Feb. 15, 2023.
The Town Council and their engineers approved a design, permitting and bidding for the drainage improvement project for North Atlantic Drive and Beach Curve Road, which is prone to flooding.
This process is expected to be wrapped up in September 2024.
"As we speak, we have teams out right now," said Crockett. "Cleaning storm drains, making sure all our systems function as desired."
Crockett said there was some flooding from storms over the weekend and they're preparing for inches of rain expected during the week.
"The drainage infrastructure here in Lantana is relatively small, because this is a small community, however, it's as important as it is in a large community," said Crockett. "The town of Lantana is going through the preliminary stages of implementing a stormwater fee."
Crockett said Brent Whitfield and Chen Moore and Associates, the consultants that surveyed the area, will provide a presentation in which town staff and residents can ask questions.
"We feel like it's a matter of time for actual damage to occur," said Freeman.
The workshop is 5:30 p.m. at Town Hall 500 Greynolds Circle in Lantana.
