Lennar Homes townhomes construction unsafe for Lake Worth residents

For Rob Jacobs, it is a case of déjà vu.

Two years ago, his Trevi Court building at the Fountains development west of Lake Worth Beach was often caked with dirt as a New Jersey company removed arsenic from a nearby shuttered golf course as part of a remediation project. He complained to anyone who would listen. And he got the attention of the state Department of Environmental Protection and Palm Beach County Code Enforcement.

Requirements imposed by regulators improved conditions.

But the problems of two years ago resurfaced when Lennar Homes began building its 100-plus townhomes on what was once a fairway. The homes range in price from $431,990 to $458,990. And this time, Jacobs says he is having trouble getting anyone to pay attention.

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“When the company was taking the arsenic out of the golf course, everyone was watching,” Jacobs told The Post. “It is like no one cares anymore with Lennar building the townhomes.”

“Our buildings shake,” Jacobs said. “Cracks have developed. They will say that it is because our building is old, but the cracks were not there until they began building.”

The mounds of dirt Lennar has created are more than 30 feet tall, even higher than two years ago. Jacobs has a bird’s eye view of it from his condo. On windy days, he said the building is covered with dirt just as it was when the arsenic was removed from the golf course. People with respiratory problems are suffering, he noted.

“It is actually much worse than it was two years ago,” he said. “I never thought that could happen. We are lucky that we had rain recently. It helped to keep the dirt on the mound.”

Lennar issued a statement to The Post, saying it “strives to be a good neighbor during all phases of land development and construction. Our customer care and construction teams have listened to the concerns of the neighbors and have responded accordingly. We continue to be committed to addressing appropriate concerns brought to our attention by our neighbors and homeowners.”

When the remediation of the golf course occurred two years ago, Jacobs noted the county and state required that monitors be installed to measure what was being put into the air.

“We got weekly updates from the state,” he said. “No one seems to care anymore. They (Lennar) do what they want. They even worked this past Sunday, which is not supposed to happen.”

Jacobs said code enforcement has shown an interest but, according to Jacobs, the agent needs to be there when the wind is blowing the dirt onto Trevi Court or when cracks develop. It is not so easy to get them there when that is occurring, Jacobs said.

Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and transportation. You can reach him atmdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism.Subscribe today