JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – City code enforcement officials inspected an Arlington apartment complex at the center of an I-TEAM investigation and issued 11 citations to the complex following complaints from residents of unsanitary living conditions.
The citations amount to more than $2,500 in fines.
Ever since the News4JAX I-TEAM began investigating residents’ complaints, we’ve been receiving emails almost daily from people who live at the Red Bay Apartments off Arlington Expressway.
The News4JAX I-TEAM took water samples to an independent laboratory for analysis, and according to a local biology professor, the results are potentially unhealthy.
After taking samples to a lab at the University of North Florida, a Biology professor found a large amount of bacteria in the water.
“I have had it for today!” tenant Olivia Robertson said.
Robertson said she has been dealing with delays with management before she even moved in, but it was after that the real trouble began.
“I had plumbing issues of the sewage backing up every single day for between two and three weeks in the first apartment,” Robertson said.
She said it took weeks for management to get her into another unit in a different building at the Red Bay complex.
“It was horrible. It smelled atrocious,” Robertson said.
Her new place greeted her with a different stench.
“It kind of smells like old cheese or something gross,” Robertson said. “I don’t even know how to describe it. I don’t even like having people over. Because as I’m sure you saw the dumpsters are always full of trash. There’s trash all over the ground. It’s not kept up well, and it smells in here.”
Last week, a neighbor in her building, Andrew Hurst, showed I-TEAM investigator Tarik Minor the foul smell coming from his running dishwasher.
“I smell it, yeah, right…isn’t that terrible? It smells like, poop…it’s like a sulfur,” Hurst said.
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An analysis from an independent lab showed the kind of bacteria typically found in feces and the lower GI tract was “flourishing” in the water tested from the dishwasher.
“Um, I am…for lack of better terms completely and utterly disgusted. I drink bottled water, so it’s not affecting me as much. But my dog until recently was drinking the tap water. And he has since I’ve moved here now develop serious skin conditions,” Robertson said.
In a letter written on Monday, a city environmental specialist wrote that apartment staff said they had cleaned a blocked sewage line, located just outside that unit. They also said a break in the sewer line serving another apartment had been repaired and is now working properly.
Robertson said she was glad code enforcement was on site Monday.
“I can only imagine what they think seeing the condition that this management company has people living in,” Robertson said.
News4JAX is awaiting the results of additional testing for her neighbor’s shower and tap water.
News4JAX reached out to the property management firm, SAAR Management, which is based in Ft. Lauderdale. They previously told us they are taking steps to enhance maintenance, saying they have two full-time plumbers on site and have developed a comprehensive plumbing renovation plan to address any underlying issues. They also said issues with squatters have impacted service, but they are working to address this issue.