Mark Kane addresses the Limestone County Commission at a special-called meeting Monday morning.

The Limestone County Commission met Monday morning for a special-called meeting regarding the approval of Ricketts Farms Phase II located off Jones Road in District 2. The issue had been on the previous meeting’s agenda, but with County Engineer Marc Massey not there to address concerns, the matter was postponed until Monday, Jan. 10.

The concerns about the approval of Rickets Farm Phase II stem from ongoing issues happening with Rickets Farm Phase I.

One neighboring resident of Phase I, Shirley Johnson, points the finger at the land owner, Goodall Homes, for causing her yard to flood repeatedly for over a year.

“I know they are wanting to expand, but I think they need to be good to the neighbors they are flooding out first. The water has run red clay into her property and into her shop,” Johnson’s son-in-law, Mark Kane, said. Goodall Homes did work on the area Jan. 5 and created a berm to help redirect the flow of water away from Johnson’s yard. This did little to satisfy Kane.

“It’s just a matter of time before the rain washes the red mud pile into her yard. That’s just common sense,” he said.

All of the lots in Phase I are owned by Goodall Homes — not the same developer that has submitted Phase II. The owners of the Phase II property are Chris and Terri Preston, who were present at the meeting but did not ask to speak. Besides being the property owners of Phase II, the Prestons sold the Phase I property to Goodall Homes.

“It’s a separate phase with a separate owner and separate from where the water issue was,” Massey said.

District 2 Commissioner Danny Barksdale described the situation at the Johnson property as “shameful and disgusting.” He believes there is plenty of blame to go around, including both the past and present owners of the Phase I property.

He also believes the situation is a symptom of a bigger problem.

“We need stricter and better subdivision regulations and, possibly, even permitting, in order to strive to protect existing future homeowners from similar issues. Marc and I have discussed this, and we were not sure if we had the support of the commissioners,” he said.

The other commissioners in attendance were open to having a more in-depth conversation in the future regarding regulations and ways to have more authority over new developments when they are infringing on existing property owners.

Barksdale asked the commission to postpone the approval of Phase II until next week to give him time “to do some more research on the issue.” The remaining commissioners did not see reasons to postpone the vote, citing that Phase I and Phase II are two separate issues, with Phase II meeting the subdivision regulations.

The Ricketts Farm Phase II subdivision was approved with a 2-1 vote. Commissioner Jason Black was not in attendance, therefore he did not vote. The meeting adjourned, but that’s when tempers flared as Barksdale approached the Prestons as they were leaving the meeting room and vented his frustrations at them with a few expletives. The tense moment ended quickly as the Prestons made their way outside.