Hole near Desoto County home from collapsed pipe fixed after 3-year wait

DESOTO COUNTY, Fla. (WINK)—After years of frustration and no answers, a DeSoto County man can finally enjoy his waterfront view again.

James Harrington came to one of WINK's community listening events, desperate for help to fix a collapsed stormwater pipe that was causing the ground to sink near his home. After several emails and a lot of finger-pointing over who was responsible, his problems are finally gone.

"Three and a half years," Harrington said. "We had no progress. You got this done in a month. So thank you so much. My goodness."

WINK News anchor Taylor Petras first visited the property in October and showed viewers the nearly 8-foot-wide hole that formed just outside Harrington's fence.

• READ MORE: Stormwater pipe collapse causes hole to form near homes in DeSoto County, residents demand repairs

The Southwest Florida Water Management District said it was the developer's responsibility to fix it and gave them a March 2 deadline to get it done. The project turned out to be much larger than expected.

"I thought they were going to just dig up the hole, patch the pipe, fill it back in two days, put some sod down, go home," Harrington said. "No, it was a two-month project. They tore out everything from my neighbor's house to my house. Everything was ripped out, landscaping, so everything was gone. They also did the two neighbors' houses across the street. The same thing. The whole storm drain was totally destroyed."

Harrington said the months of muddy views were nothing compared to the years of headaches with a massive hole behind his home.

"I mean, everybody kept passing the blame, as we talked about earlier," Harrington said. "But you know what? At this point, it's all behind us. I'm just happy it's done. Again, thanks to you guys. Thank you so much."