David Ward bought property in Mandarin more than a year ago, but JEA infrastructure is blocking him from building a home. Ask Anthony investigates what comes next.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville homebuilder says an underground surprise has stopped his construction plans and left him paying the price.  He contacted Ask Anthony for help. 

David Ward, a second-generation builder, thought he found the perfect piece of land in a quiet Mandarin neighborhood. He bought the property on Rivergate Trail for $40,000 more than a year ago, planning to build a small, two-story brick home.

But when he tried to get an address assigned to the lot, he says everything began to unravel.

“The problems I’m having with the land is our neighbors to the left is JEA, and they own a lift station,” Ward said. “They’ve run pipes through the middle of my property, making it unbuildable. They won’t let me build on top of it.”

Ward says he didn’t know about the pipes until JEA unveiled a map showing them running directly beneath his lot where he wants to build, a discovery he calls “a hidden surprise.”

According to the property’s listing, the lot was marketed by the real estate company as vacant land “ready for a new home.” Ward says neither the listing agent, broker, nor title company mentioned any issues before the sale and didn’t seem to be aware of the issue. The real estate company has not responded to our request for comment.

“I’m a very small company and $40,000 is not something you can just take a loss,” Ward said.

JEA confirmed it notified Ward about the underground infrastructure in November 2024. The utility says all easements are public record through the Duval County Clerk of Courts, and that determining whether a property is buildable is the responsibility of the City of Jacksonville’s Planning Department.

However, the title company involved, Cherry Title LLC, disputes JEA’s version of events. In an email statement, the company said:

“It has been established that JEA installed the utility outside of their designated easement without documented or recorded justification. Mr. Ward conducted thorough due diligence during the acquisition phase, receiving confirmation from both the city development department regarding buildability and JEA concerning service availability.”

Ward says he’s hoping JEA will either move the pipes or compensate him for the unusable land.

“If they can’t move the pipes, I just want to be made whole,” Ward said

After Anthony Austin contacted JEA, an executive reached out to Ward, a call he says he’d been waiting for months to receive. A spokesperson for JEA says the utility has ordered a new survey to map the easements and property lines but has not yet received the results. Ward does have the option of moving the pipes himself. However, he says, it would cost nearly triple the price of what he paid for the property. 

JEA says it will continue researching the situation to reach a resolution.

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