CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla — The group of Babcock Ranch homeowners who’ve been fighting their developer over promised hurricane-impact-rated front doors got a surprise call with a fix at Tuesday’s Charlotte County Commissioners meeting.
Fox 4’s Austin Schargorodski was in the room and made it clear—they’re on the homeowners’ side. And then, the builder called.
Watch what the builder told the Babcock Ranch homeowners:
It happened right in the middle of the commissioners meeting. “When I bought my home I knew I was physically incapable of installing any shutters so I would have never purchased it,” said Irene Gettel, one of the homeowners affected.
Gettel and several neighbors had come to the meeting hoping the county would step in and help. They say their builder, D.R. Horton, didn’t deliver on its promise to install impact-rated front doors in their homes.
“The county building department should require D.R. Horton to correct their mistake in a way that was originally permitted - with an impact transom that does not require homeowner installation,” Gettel told the board.
Commissioners agreed. And as that discussion was happening, Gettel’s neighbor Louis Coletto received a phone call from D.R. Horton’s Vice President of Operations.
“He said they’re going to move forward, that it’s going to be hurricane impact glass that will fit in the exact opening,” Coletto said. “And Kyle Knight said make sure to tell the press that D.R. Horton came through for us, that it’s official, and all the people back at the Ranch are going to be ready for a hootenanny.”
“That’s all we ever wanted,” Gettel said. “I love my house. I have the best community. All of us say we have the best neighborhood in Babcock. I just wanted this right because I can’t put up shutters, so why even put it there if I can’t use it? So I am thrilled. That’s all I wanted.”
Coletto added, “I want to thank Fox 4 because once you did the story last week this became a big topic of discussion on the Ranch and everyone thought what was going on wasn’t fair to us as homeowners. So I can’t stress enough how happy we are D.R. Horton came through - and we’re thrilled.”
ORIGINAL STORY:
