Yulee, Fla. — A group of people living in an area of Yulee that FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, says is already at risk of flooding says development planned across the road will make the problem worse.
Nassau County’s Planning and Zoning Board recently voted yes on allowing development on more than 55 acres of land south of Clyde Higginbotham Road, between Lumber Creek and the CSX railroad track. It stretches down to the St. Johns River, just before the Duval County line.
This is the same area where Action News Jax told you in September homeowners were working to pump chest-deep water away from their homes after the First Alert Weather Team reported around 10 straight days of rain in northeast Florida.
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Skyler Swisher is one of those homeowners, who has lived along Clyde Higginbotham Road in the same home since 1995. He’s worried the possible new development will make it impossible for future rainwater to have anywhere else to go.
“I’m scared about the path forward, I’m not sure,” Swisher said.
Swisher showed Action News Jax’s Finn Carlin a ditch next to his home he’s been working on for months as a way of making his own drainage for rain. Last fall’s heavy showers flooded the area around his home, making it look like a lake in his and his neighbors’ yards.
“We had never seen this problem before, we asked anyone for anything we thought we could do,” said Swisher, referencing the ditch, “we tried doing something with this, it didn’t do anything.”
Swisher tells Action News Jax he is still working on recovering from the showers last fall, both with repairs to his home, trying to find drainage solutions for future rain and dealing with a flood of stress rather than water.
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“Every time it’s a heavy, hard rain or it’s raining long, [my wife and I] can’t sleep,” Swisher said, “we’ve literally cried worrying, wondering whether we’d be under water.”
Swisher and his neighbors are worried the land across the street, being considered for construction, will be used for more homes.
WRC Cook Yulee, LLC is the Jacksonville-based company listed as the owner of the property. We’re still working to learn what exact plans the company has for the land, should it get a final approval to be rezoned for development, but some of the options listed through county documents include homes, hotels, health and fitness establishments, restaurants and more.
It’s now up to the Nassau County Board of Commissioners to give final approval. The board’s next meeting is on March 19th.
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