Developer finishes Sun City lagoon repairs

After three years and hundreds of hours battling developers and the state, homeowners like John Ott say they are celebrating the repairs to several Sun City Hilton Head lagoons.

"We've been at this a long time," said Ott, 68, who has lived in a home facing a lagoon in Sun City's Aster Fields neighborhood for about four years. "We raised objections to the way it looked from literally the first day. It was clear the lagoon was way too shallow."

Now, Sun City developer Pulte Homes has made good on its promise to revamp several lagoons that act as stormwater-retention ponds in the Aster Fields, Basket Walk, Murray Hill and Water Lily Cove neighborhoods. The lagoons are designed to filter pollutants from rainwater before it reaches nearby rivers, streams and marshes.

The repairs, including dredging the lagoon next to Ott's home, were completed last week.

"I think they've made a good-faith effort to resolve the matter," Ott said of Pulte. "They took responsibility for the problems."

The lagoons needed work that included dredging sediment, elevating banks and raising water levels by changing the height of drains. Last year, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control said Pulte had built a number of lagoons in newer Sun City neighborhoods that didn't match original permits, a violation of state pollution laws.

The Otts' lagoon is one of 18 Pulte promised in January to fix at no cost to residents at a meeting with about 550 homeowners. In March, the developer told residents the work would be completed by August. A plan was then submitted to DHEC detailing the repairs.

The repairs must be certified by inspectors with DHEC's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management to ensure the work meets original permit specifications, said Dan Burger, a spokesman for OCRM.

Pulte, however, has not yet requested a final site inspection. The development company has until January to bring the lagoons into compliance, Burger said. State inspectors last week did an unofficial check and found the repairs to be in order, he said.

"It has been a long process, but I think as an agency, we're pleased to see this come to a close," Burger said.

While the company still has about a month of fine-tuning and cleanup, Pulte spokeswoman Caryn Klebba said two independent surveys of the repaired lagoons showed they are in compliance.

"There were deficiencies from the approved construction plans, and we needed to bring them up to par," Klebba said. "Our commitment is to do the right thing."