Residents of the troubled Tymber Skan condominium complex are still fighting for the right to live there. On Tuesday, many of the remaining residents -- who were facing water and sewer shutoffs this week -- got a partial reprieve.

  • Tymber Skan complex in danger of losing water, sewer this week
  • Orange County agreed to cancel $24,000 wastewater bill
  • Tymber Skan still have to deal with OUC for water

The last of three separate homeowners association groups from Tymber Skan met with county commissioners  to ask that the water and sewer services in the complex not be shut off and residents be given the opportunity to work to restore the community they love.  

Orange County officials agreed to help where they could. They scrubbed a massive, disputed wastewater bill. But the community still has a ways to go.

Homeowners and renters in the final legally occupied section of the community say tens of thousands of dollars in water and sewer bills are the reason they are about to lose their homes.

"It's not like we are not trying to pay our bills because we are," resident Cynthia Clayber told commissioners.

The county says the complex owes $24,000 in back wastewater charges. OUC says they are owed thousands of dollars as well.

Residents say the wastewater bill stems from a problem caused by the county years ago. 

The county brought in heavy trucks to do repairwork, but the trucks sank into the ground and cracked the wastewater pipes. By the time the problem was discovered and fixed, bills went through the roof. The county and the community fought over the bills. But now that most of the residents have left Tymber Skan, the bill was an even bigger burden on those who stayed behind.

"I see everybody around me getting help, but we've been on TV for far too long," said resident Malinda McIntosh. "The cry has been cried for far too long without help coming in and for you to say find somewhere else for us to stay, I can’t come in your neighborhood and say uproot yourself. You and your children go somewhere else without a certain plan."

Orange County Mayor Theresa Jacobs sympathized with their plight but said the county could only do so much. And while the commission agreed to scrub it’s outstanding $24,000 utility bill, Jacobs told residents she and the commission could do nothing about the water bill. That would be up to OUC.

"We are concerned about this but we have zero jurisdiction. We cannot mandate that they continue to keep your water on," Jacobs said.

If the water does get turned off, the county could be forced to condemn the complex.