SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Some residents in Geneva say they are concerned about continuous flooding in the unincorporated town within Seminole County.

While county officials say millions of dollars have already been spent to study the issue, a planned fix is at a standstill — and if a consensus amongst homeowners isn't reached, it may be shelved altogether.

What You Need To Know

  • A Seminole County official says the Whitcomb Drive Roadway and Drainage Improvements project needed full support from residents in order to move forward

  • Because the county would need access to private property during the construction, they sent out a notice Monday warning the project's future was in jeopardy because 13 of the 40 affected homeowners declined to cooperate

  • If completed, the project is expected to cost around $4.6 million and would have been funded through the county's penny sales tax

  • County officials said they needed full cooperation from the affected homeowners, but 13 of the 40 said they were not on board with the project

Ultimately, the county leaders said the project can’t move forward without full corporation from residents who live on Whitcomb Drive because the project would include construction on private property.

While they needed 100% approval from residents in the affected area to allow the project to continue, county staff said 13 of the 40 property owners decided not to cooperate.

The county sent a notice to affected property owners Monday saying the project was in jeopardy and discussion about its ultimate fate would be added to a future Seminole County Board of County Commissioners meeting.

County officials said the Whitcomb Drive Roadway and Drainage Improvements project would have raised the roads about 2 feet, allowing residents to get out of their flooded driveway as well as expanding the ditches to help with flooding.

Seminole County chief design engineer Dino Lucarelli said if nothing changes in the near future, the project may have to be put on hold indefinitely.

“It’s regrettable right now, but we have to pull the project and put it on the shelf and hope for maybe someday we could get all the participation on it, but right now it’s withdrawing the project and not moving forward with it,” Lucarelli said.

Sharon Bowen lives in the same house on Whitcomb Drive that her dad used to call home. She moved there in 2013 to a beautiful lake view, and said she plans to live in the home forever.

“It’s so peaceful and tranquil, so I love it,” said Bowen.

With flooding being a major problem in the area, Bowen said she’s fortunate that water never gets inside her house, but that’s not the case for her neighbors down the street.

“The water doesn’t impede our lifestyle, but they have to deal with it in their homes and deal with it for transportation and even food,” said Bowen.

County officials say many homes in Geneva were built in the late 60s, and the narrow roadways, ditches and pipes can no longer keep up with the amount of water that needs to be drained.

The project would have widened ditches on homeowners’ properties to help with that.

“So essentially we need easements," Lucarelli said. "There are a couple ways: We either get the residents to voluntarily give us the easements and provide it for us, or we have to use eminent dominant. But we don’t like going the eminent domain route, and if we can’t require them, it stops us from going forward."

Bowen says she still hopes for some sort of solution because the flooding issues are only getting more expensive to fix.

“I did try to call the county at one point to ask about is there any kind of assistance to help with dirt, because we’ve had to replace dirt twice and it’s not cheap,” she said.

The project, if completed, is expected to cost around $4.6 million and would have been funded by the county's penny sales tax.