JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Two Jacksonville children with autism drowned in Northside retention ponds within a matter of weeks, prompting city leaders, healthcare professionals and community members to begin searching for ways to prevent another tragedy.
The latest drowning happened Monday after the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office found a 3-year-old girl unresponsive in a retention pond. Police said she had wandered away from her home.
Her death came weeks after 7-year-old Chace Brown drowned in another Northside retention pond after disappearing from his home.
Both children lived in the district represented by Jacksonville City Councilman Reggie Gaffney Jr., who organized a community meeting Tuesday to discuss possible safety measures.
“The way I put it, we’ve really got an active neighborhood emergency, and I think we need to do something now,” Gaffney said.
Much of the conversation focused on possible changes around retention ponds, including lengthening their slopes, installing warning signs, and creating new safety requirements.
Participants also discussed whether fencing or other barriers should be required around retention ponds. Michael Haggard of the Haggard Law Firm compared the issue to existing safety requirements for commercial pools.
“Every commercial pool in the state of Florida has to have a fence around it,” Haggard said. “It’s no different with retention ponds.”
Haggard said state lawmakers could require private property owners, homeowners’ associations and apartment complexes to add barriers or other safety measures around retention ponds.
“The legislature can act and require all private property owners, HOAs, apartment complexes that have retention ponds on them to do other types of barriers or safety measures,” Haggard said.
City leaders acknowledged that passing new local fencing requirements could be complicated by Senate Bill 180, a state law restricting local governments from imposing certain new requirements. That led some participants to call for action at the state level.
“I believe that there probably needs to be a statewide standard,” state Rep. Kim Kendall said. “Don’t know if that’s already in place, if it needs to be upgraded, enforcement mechanisms and timeline and funding provisions.”
The Florida Department of Children and Families lists drowning as the leading cause of unintentional death for children between 1 and 4 years old. Florida recorded 119 child drowning deaths last year, the highest number reported in the state.
Children with autism face an especially high risk. The state says they are up to 160 times more likely to drown than children who are not on the spectrum.
Stacey Hoaglund, president of the Disability Advocacy Support Specialists and the former president of the Autism Society of Florida, said 92 child drowning deaths have already been reported to the Department of Children and Families this year, five more than at the same point last year.
“We really, all of us together. We really need to figure out what we’re going to do,” the advocate said. “And the overarching message from families that go through this is, ‘I never thought it could happen to me.’”
For parents who have experienced that loss, the push for change is deeply personal.
“This is very tragic, and I’m trying to deal with it, but I also heal through helping other women get through losing their children,” one mother said.
The meeting ended with a plan to research what other cities are doing to improve retention pond safety. City leaders said they would return to the table to discuss possible legislation and a more permanent solution.
Haggard said he hopes those conversations lead to changes before another family loses a child.
“I’m the first one that never wants to sit across from a family again in my conference room where they’ve lost a loved one, and we know we can fix it at retention ponds,” he said.
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