In the past several months, live bombs as well as bomb debris have been found at a nearby school, under the yards of some homes and on ranch land behind the school. Army officials are now testing soil in the area for possible toxic chemicals. The neighborhoods were built on the edge of the Pinecastle Jeep Range, and public records show that fill dirt taken from the range was used throughout the development.
Now more than 200 families say they could lose their homeowners insurance because companies could drop or decide not to renew policies in Vista Lakes, Crowntree Lakes and Tivoli Gardens.
The financial risk of losing homeowners coverage is just one problem. In a market flush with inventory, the homeowners are having no luck in selling their homes. “We have to disclose what no one ever told us: that [our house is] on a bombing range,” says Mike Tatum, one of the affected homeowners who is anxious to move. Tatum says “God, how can we stay here? We’re on a 60-year-old bombing range that hasn’t been cleared by the government. There could be anything out here.” If they had that information, they never would have bought in the area, Tatum affirmed.
In what they say is their only answer, the Tatums are among more than 200 families who have filed a lawsuit against building companies and the development company, citing fraud and violations of the state’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Real-estate broker John Jennings said it is almost impossible to sell houses in the area of the old bombing range. “There’s not a lot of ways to sugarcoat a bombing range or contaminated area.”
D. Ritch Workman, president of the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers, a Florida-based trade group, says homeowners who lose their insurance could face foreclosure.