|
Article Courtesy of Channel
13 Spectrum
By
Brandon Spencer
Published September 1, 2025
|
WATCH VIDEO |
|
What You Need To Know
- Water levels continue to rise at Clear Water
Lake in Apopka, swallowing on property owner land with it
- City of Apopka has been working to help
mitigate the water levels by using a temporary pump and now
hopes to find a long-term solution with a permanent pump that
would be paid for by the Clear Lake Landing HOA
- Clear Lake Landing feels they shouldn't have
to foot the bill for the pump with three other groups also
owning the lake
- The two have yet to come to an agreement on
how to proceed with addressing the increasing water levels
|
APOPKA — Residents that live around Clear Water Lake in Apopka say they’ve seen
water levels rise several
feet over the last few years and they’re hoping to work with the city of Apopka
to remedy it.
But the two sides can’t seem to come to an agreement with how they should go
about executing solutions.
|
Apopka residents living near the lake say
they love where they live but rising water levels taking
over yards and even playgrounds are starting to become
concerning.
“The lake is definitely an issue and it’s a problem,” shared
Clear Lake Landing HOA President Brian Mater.
There are 142 homes in the subdivision, with 20 sitting on
lakeside property that has continued to disappear as water
levels rise.
“For instance, the property that we’re on right now, she’s
lost 20 to 30 feet of her property where she is no longer
able to use and a lot of the times she can’t mow it because
it’s so wet with what’s going on there,” Mater shared.
|
|
|
Mater believes the water levels are rising due to an increase in development
with the city pointing to the subdivision’s irrigation runoff, which they say
accumulates 50 million gallons per year.
The city stepped in with a short-term solution of pumping water out of Clear
Lake into Lake Apopka, which the city took care of along with help from the
newest development.
But Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson says they’re now trying to help them find a
long-term solution with a permanent water pump.
“So, that was our initial plan is for us to put a pump station in but when we go
to DEP and St. Johns, because it would become a public utility,” Nelson said.
“We would have to treat that water to a higher degree than would the homeowner’s
association.”
This would mean that the cost would fall on residents of Clear Lake Landing.
Nelson says it would cost about $450,000 to get the pump and says that if the
HOA finances it over 10 years and gets rid of their reclaimed water deal for
irrigation, the residents will save money close to $20 per month on their water
bills.
“St. Johns was eager to help us and said yeah, it’s a great solution but, it
needs to be under the operations of the HOA,” said Nelson. “Listen, if I could
do that deal, I’d take $20 a month off and money to the city.”
But Mater says this pushes the problem from the city to the HOA for an issue
they don’t feel they caused. And while financing the new pump might save them
cash on their water bills, Mater says the liability costs make the deal not
worth it.
“We’re going to incur expenses with our property management company because
they’re going to have to find vendors now, they’re going to have to come up with
ways to bill this water,” said Mater. “So, the best way for the mayor is to sit
there and say pay $450,000, we’ll handle the little stuff here and there, we’re
done with it.”
The city of Apopka and Clear Lake Landing have been talking for months, which is
evident by the dozens of pages of emails Mater provided to Spectrum News. But
they haven’t come to an agreement and is complicated by the fact that there are
three other parties who own property along the lake as well.
|
