Water outside a Lantana condo near the Intracoastal Waterway can sit for a week after heavy rain or high tide, according to resident Mitch Freling. He lives just north of the Ocean Avenue Bridge and said the flooding is the worst he has seen in the 16 years he has lived there. During the recent king tide, the water rose over the top of his dock and reached the wall, and debris piled against the front doors of first-floor units.
Freling said the town previously told him the drainage problem sits on private property. He contacted WPTV asking for another look.
Lantana Mayor Karen Lythgoe said the complaint was new to her and that the town will look into it. She cautioned that responsibility may depend on whether the drainage is private. In that case, she said, the town can only make sure its public stormwater system is working as designed.
Lythgoe said older drainage systems may no longer have the capacity the town needs today. She said a stormwater utility fee has been put in place since WPTV last reported on Lantana flooding two years ago. Projects underway include raising the seawall at Bicentennial Park and a drainage project on Hypoluxo Island. The town is also pursuing Florida resiliency grants and state and federal money. During the king tide, she said, the beach parking lot and parts of Hypoluxo Island went under water, though some of it later drained.
Freling said he simply wants the town to fix the drainage so the water leaves.
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