JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — There are renewed calls for retention pond safety and education in Jacksonville after another child drowned at a Southside apartment complex Monday night.
A missing persons call to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office turned into a recovery mission when they found the girl in a pond at Paradise Island Apartment Homes.
The large retention pond has no fence or barrier, only a warning sign that says “no swimming or wading.”
First responders performed CPR on the girl, but she was taken to the hospital where she died.
This marks the third child drowning in a retention pond covered by First Coast News in Jacksonville this year.
A few years ago, Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman led the city’s charge to promote retention pond safety and education.
She said that message is still important for parents and guardians.
“We need to make sure that we use some type of alarms on the doors or the sliding doors to make sure that we’re going to keep them safe, especially if they’re new developments," Pittman said.
The apartments are in Councilman Raul Arias, Jr.’s district. He told us he hopes to connect with other council members and discuss how to prevent similar deaths in the future.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office hasn’t revealed how old the girl who drowned Monday night was, but we know a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old also lost their lives in 2023 from drowning in retention ponds.
Monday night, police were called for a missing person after 9 p.m., but discovered the child's body in a large retention pond with no fence or barriers.
“Parents are responsible for their children, but sometimes our kids do get out,” Pittman said, “and if someone sees something, we’d ask them to say something.”
In a statement, Mayor Donna Deegan’s office said:
"We are heartbroken for the family of the young child lost in this tragic accident. We urge all citizens to help prevent future tragedies by visiting pondsafetyjax.com to learn more about pond hazards and how to stay safe. Since June 2021, the City of Jacksonville policy has been that all City-owned ponds have at least 5 feet of natural growth around the water’s edge to create a natural barrier. This vegetative buffer is designed to discourage people from going into the water. While the City doesn’t manage bodies of water like the Paradise Island pond that are on private property, we would hope that property owners take the same care.”
Neighbor Lena Benitez said she hopes the complex will take steps to address safety issues related to the pond and put a barrier up.
“This is a very bad tragedy, and I would never want this to happen again,” Benitez said, “so hopefully this will make them see that they need a fence around that pond.”
We reached out to the apartment complex, specifically asking if they plan to make any changes to retention ponds on the property in light of the tragedy.
In a statement to First Coast News, Vice President of Fogelman Properties Cressida McKinney declined to answer that question but said “the Paradise Island community is deeply saddened to learn of the tragic incident that occurred last night. Our focus is to support the family, our community and the investigation.”