NOKOMIS, Fla. — Some Sarasota County neighbors say they are concerned about strange holes that have opened up in the ground near their homes.
The neighbors live near Albee Farm Road and Edmondson Road in Nokomis. They said they have counted 13 holes so far – some being as deep as 14 feet.
Some of the holes also formed on the road and have been filled already.
"It's going in this direction and it's going in that direction," said Victor Kokorian, who had a hole in his driveway area. He also has one hole in his backyard.
"On this road alone there are three holes. They would open up and boom – they get filled in right away" said Mark Shannahan, another neighbor with a hole near his property. "On the street over there, there's four holes and the county garbage truck got stuck in one. The county code enforcement officer, he got stuck too."
The neighbors explained they started seeing the holes form when crews began pumping water out of a pond at a nearby construction site.
The site is for the new housing development called Legacy Groves, and it used to be agricultural land for an orange grove.
"Within days of that happening is when you first start saw the first [hole]. The first one was at the end of the road here and it was days after they started pumping groundwater from there," said Shannahan.
Now the neighbors say their homes are at risk if the holes continue to form unchecked.
"It's an old established neighborhood and a lot of these people have lived here for generations, and it's being destroyed," said Leigh Sterrett, who also lives in the neighborhood. "Right now with what's going on, they can't sell, they can't we can buy and it's negatively impacting everybody around here."
According to the developer for the property, Pulte Homes, they halted the project in the affected area immediately after it was reported.
However, county officials said even after the pumping had stopped, the holes still formed. Now they are looking to see if the incidents are linked to the ongoing drought.
The homeowners are not assured by this and said because of the uncertainty and for the safety of existing homes, they want the developer and the county to rethink the project altogether.
"I think the project needs to be shut down. I don't think the property can hold or withstand what they're trying to do in the development," said Sterrett. "Can you imagine what's going to happen if they put a concrete slab and a whole home on it? I mean, I don't think structurally is going to hold or be able to support what they are trying to do there."
A spokesperson for the developers said in a statement they had sent a team of geologists to the neighborhood so they can investigate.
They said the findings will determine if there's a connection to the current construction or prior development on the land.
Those neighbors told us they are worried they may be dealing with sinkholes but county officials have said they are depressions.