Fecal matter and urine are backing up into some Jacksonville residents' apartment units.
Tenants at Bella Terraza on Monument Road told Action News Jax their emergency requests aren’t being filled by property maintenance teams.
Neighbors said it started Sunday morning when they saw bubbles in their toilet that eventually started backing up with waste.
Families at the apartment complex told us they’ve been struggling for hours to get help, but management wasn’t responding.
For two years, Kathy Lucas has lived at Bella Terraza and said she’s never experienced something this bad before.
Tenants at “Bella Terraza” on Monument Road told @ActionNewsJax their emergency requests aren’t being filled by property maintenance teams. pic.twitter.com/kD0i7bvhNp
— Kaitlyn Chana (@KaitlynChana) September 3, 2017
Families at this apartment complex told us they’ve been struggling for hours to get help, but management wasn’t responding to their request. pic.twitter.com/UKNPEF3Z32
— Kaitlyn Chana (@KaitlynChana) September 3, 2017
“It smells like someone hasn’t flushed a toilet in 12 years. The smell of it is just awful. You can smell it throughout my house – and it just makes you sick,” Lucas said.
Her tubs and toilets are one of many filled with fecal matter and urine.
“Fecal matter and urine is hazardous to anyone’s health. That’s not my fecal matter. That’s other people’s fecal matter,” Lucas said.
She said the smell is unbearable and the fecal matter is a health risk.
“This is wrong for anyone who has to live here and have to go through this. Shame on them for not responding. Shame on them. Shame, shame, shame on them. It shouldn’t take going through all of this for us,” Lucas said.
She showed Action News Jax the numerous emails she wrote to management about the issue.
As the stench becomes more potent, Lucas told us she plans to stay somewhere else until this is resolved.
Action News Jax reached out to JEA and its personnel came out to assess the damage.
They told us it was a leaky pipe on private property, which they’re not allowed to fix. JEA said it has reached out to Bella Terraza’s maintenance team to help bring relief to the affected residents.
Action News Jax received a phone call from Chief Executive Officer of ArtCraft Management Earl Ferguson who says he is the property managers of the Bella Terraza apartments.
Ferguson said to his understanding there is absolutely no health hazard, everything has been cleaned up, and repairs have been made to the problem pipes.
Ferguson explained they will continue to constantly review those pipes, and if needed, they will hire contractors to look at these pipes again this upcoming week. Ferguson said they’ve spoken to every willing resident about this problem.
Cox Media Group
