SUN CITY CENTER — Laura Burns-Sierra did what she thought she was supposed to do before putting up a backyard fence in 2021: she got her homeowners' association to approve it. Now the fence, which she says cost nearly $8,000, is supposed to come down.
She's one of several homeowners in Sun City Center's Cypress Mill community who have been told by the Cypress Mill Community Development District that their fences sit on drainage easements and have to be moved or removed at their own expense, ABC Action News' I-Team reported.
What the CDD is demanding
On the affected lots, 15-foot drainage easements run along the property from the road to a stormwater pond. Letters to homeowners say their fence “prevents the district's pond maintenance vendor from accessing the adjacent stormwater pond for necessary maintenance.”
Some neighbors have already complied. Victor Abreu said he paid a contractor $1,000 to move his fence about 15.5 feet in, costing him plants and bushes and affecting his irrigation. The alternative, he said, was paying the CDD about $625 to take the fence down.
Others have pushed back. Christopher Delgado, who rents in the community, said a crew showed up last month and told him they were there to take his fence down. He and Burns-Sierra, a disabled veteran who lives next door, refused to let the crew into their yards. Neighbors have been told the fences will have to come down later this month.
Why the HOA's OK didn't count
Many Tampa Bay neighborhoods have both an HOA and a CDD, and homeowners often don't realize they're different things.
“A CDD is actually, believe it or not, a governmental entity. They have elections,” said Jonathan Ellis, an attorney who represents homeowners' associations and isn't involved in the dispute. An HOA sets rules for things like a fence's materials, size and color on private property. A CDD is a special-purpose local government that can enforce its rights over district property and easements, including the drainage system.
“If you want to put a fence on a drainage easement, the association may not be objecting to you doing that, but that doesn't mean the CDD is not objecting or is consenting,” Ellis said.
“Why now?”
Residents say the pond used to be maintained without going through their yards. Abreu shared photos of a previous contractor working the pond by boat from another spot.
In a written statement, the CDD said its current vendor found that fences blocked the designated easements, leaving one pond without a legally established access route. The previous vendor's route wasn't inside a designated easement, which raised liability and worker-safety concerns, the district said, so it decided to address every encroachment in the community.
The district said the easements are on the recorded plats and expressly prohibit permanent improvements like fences, and that “HOA approval does not authorize an encroachment upon the District's easement, nor does the HOA have the authority to waive the District's easement rights.” It said it has granted extensions to homeowners who asked for more time and isn't planning to remove any fences before those extensions run out.
Ellis said the passage of time could give homeowners an argument, such as whether the fence was in plain view and whether the CDD knew about it for years and did nothing. “But at the same point, the CDD may only be asserting its rights when it needs to,” he said.
If you live in a CDD, check this before you build
- Find your easements. Your property survey and the recorded plat show drainage and utility easements. In Burns-Sierra's case, the CDD says her own survey flagged the fence as encroaching.
- Ask both boards. HOA approval covers the HOA's rules only. If a fence, pool or other improvement touches an easement, ask the CDD in writing too.
- If you already got a letter, the district says to contact it directly about your deadline or to request more time.
“They're acting like the big boss in town, and everybody's upset, but what can we do?” Burns-Sierra said.