PEMBROKE PINES – Hundreds of residents at the Heron Pond condominium complex in Pembroke Pines are stunned after being informed that they have a month to leave their homes.
Engineers deemed all 19 buildings in the complex unsafe. “Danger,” “unsafe” and “violation” are just some of the words on signs posted on every unit’s door at the complex at 8400 SW 1st Street.
“Today they came and they said you have to go,” said Kemely, who has lived in the complex for the last two years with her mother.
Kemely said she was sleeping Wednesday morning when she heard a commotion outside. She later found a letter on her door ordering her and her mom to be out of their unit by Aug. 29.
“It’s really upsetting you know, we don’t have money, especially since it’s just me and my mom. My mom is a single mom. We don’t have money to just get up and leave. You know, Florida is very expensive right now, especially South Florida,” said Kemely.
Last year, seven of the 19 buildings in the complex were deemed unsafe by engineers, and the families living in them were forced to leave. Now, every family in every unit will have to leave, due to cracks in the buildings, inadequate support for the balconies and rotting wood.
“They didn’t say that it was going to be completely condemned from one day to another. We just started seeing building by building being shut down and people being kicked out,” said Dyanna, another resident at Heron Pond.
This week, a letter from ACG Engineering Services was sent to the Heron Pond Board of Directors detailing concerns about the structural integrity of the buildings.
The letter says in part, “The structural damages, discovered during our survey and described in our reports, are a result of long-term exposure to the elements (moisture, termites, etc.).”
“This is not our fault. We didn’t do nothing to deserve to be kicked out. This was negligent of whoever built this building,” said Dyanna.
The letter also says the buildings are not safe to withstand hurricane season. If a storm threatens within the month’s timeline, the residents would have to move even sooner.
“Should the area be placed under a tropical storm weather advisory, units must be evacuated immediately,” according to a statement from the City of Pembroke Pines.
Hundreds of families impacted by the latest evacuation notice are still paying rent and say they have not received help from Heron Pond’s management.
