He cleared the pool immediately, which was the right call, and which likely prevented what could have been a serious injury. Nobody was bitten, but by the time animal control arrived to remove that first snake, a second one, smaller, harder to identify definitively, though, Justin was fairly confident it was a juvenile cottonmouth, was spotted in the pump house adjacent to the pool equipment shed, drawn, most likely by the damp, dark conditions and the rodents that had been nesting in the insulation. Word got to the HOA's insurance carrier by Monday morning. That's when things moved fast in a way Denise had no ability to control. The carrier citing an attractive nuisance liability exposure, the legal doctrine that governs pools, trampolines, and other features that draw people and now apparently venomous wildlife into potential danger, informed the association that continued pool operation without a documented wildlife mitigation plan would void the facility's liability coverage entirely.
The county health department separately issued a temporary closure order the same week, citing two confirmed venomous snake incidents within a 14-day span as an immediate public safety concern under the pool's operating permit. The sign went up on the pool gate that Wednesday, laminated, taped to the chain link. The kind of notice nobody in that subdivision had ever expected to see on the amenity that had been the centerpiece of every listing photo, every open house, every glossy brochure page since the neighborhood broke ground. "Pool closed by order of Orangeburg County Environmental Health Division. Pending wildlife mitigation review."
I heard about it from Curtis before I saw it myself. And I'll admit, I drove over that evening, parked on the road, and looked at that sign for a long moment. $420,000. The cabana, the diving well, the zero entry kitty pool Denise had specifically lobbied for during her first year on the board. The amenity every single marketing photo for Heron Point Estates had built its entire pitch around, closed indefinitely, chained shut, because the barrier that had kept the marsh's residents on the marsh side had been torn out by an excavator on Denise Callaway's orders. The irony wasn't lost on anyone in that subdivision, least of all the homeowners who'd paid a premium specifically for lake-adjacent lots with resort-style amenities.
What they had now was a padlocked gate, a six-figure amenity generating zero value, and a wildlife mitigation consultants invoice that I later learned started at $12,000 just for the initial site assessment. The math finally got done in early December at a special HOA meeting that Curtis described to me as the quietest angry room I've ever sat in. Somebody, I believe it was Roy Fenwick, though I never confirmed it directly, put together a spreadsheet and presented it to the full membership. Fence demolition invoice from Coastal Grading and Clearing, $8,200, paid from HOA reserves without a proper membership vote. Wildlife Mitigation Consultant Assessment, $12,000 with a follow-up trapping and exclusion program estimated at another 22,000.
Pool closure indefinite with reopening contingent on a documented perimeter barrier being restored along the natural boundary, meaning in plain terms, the county wanted something very close to my original fence rebuilt before they'd lift the closure order. Estimated cost of that, $18,000. Since the fence now had to meet updated setback specifications, the county