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chrissie griffin
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posted 12 July 2007 09:33 CET
Woman fighting black mold from flood in 10 Mile Flats
By Carol L. Cole
Transcript Staff Writer
The smell is something you won’t forget, sort of a stinking, rotting smell that makes your eyes blink and throat sore.
The crawl space at Chrissie Griffin’s home at 3307 48th Avenue NW is something to behold, but not in a good way. About a foot-and-a-half of putrid, stagnant water was trapped in the space — it was down to about 8 inches of water on Wednesday afternoon — and it is rapidly causing black mold to permeate her house.
“So it’s nasty,” Griffin said, her voice raspy. “I have a really bad sore throat.”
The home, which was built in the 1930s and moved to the site in the mid 1960s, has never flooded, even in wetter-than-average years in the 1970s. But this year is different.
Water crept near her house on 3.12 acres several times earlier this year. The crawl space flooded first on June 26, then June 28 and most recently Tuesday morning.
It’s meant Griffin has had to stay in a hotel.
Her barn is flooded, her hay ruined, her two horses sick. She moved them to a friend’s house but is keeping her dogs on the premises.
And the septic system is out of commission and can’t be pumped until the water is out of the crawl space. E. coli has contaminated her water well, as it has her neighbors’.
Griffin, who has lived there three years, had been tearing her carpet out herself. The single mom, who is broker/owner of Trustworthy Realty, hasn’t worked much in days.
“This is a full-time job,” she said. “Trying to deal with that stinking mold is just nasty. It stinks.”
Her insurance agent said her policy won’t pay for damage from flooding or from developments or zoning.
But now she’s getting some help. The City of Norman loaned her a pump to help her get the water out of her crawl space.
And the American Red Cross provided Griffin bottled water, food, a hotel room and have said they’ll help her replace her hay. They plan to contribute $150 toward replacement of her beds.
“They’ve been great,” she said. “I didn’t know they did some of these things.”
But until Griffin’s septic system is back up and running and the mold and E. coli taken care of, she will not be able to move back in.
The City of Norman also brought her neighbors, Darrell and Pam Jennings, a water tanker until their well is decontaminated, also from E. coli.
Griffin notes the irony of her situation.
She spoke in favor to the Norman City Council for the then-proposed, controversial Windstone Farms development, which is now called Fountainview Addition.
“I thought it would make property values go up,” Griffin said. “I had faith that they would do things responsibly.”
And she had been critical of her neighbor Pam Jennings, who vehemently opposed the development, saying it would cause drainage problems. No more.
The neighbors in the area believe the development, which is being built uphill to the east of their homes, contributes to their problem.
The developer, Sassan Moghadam of Precision Builders, brought in earth-moving equipment Wednesday afternoon to try to clear a channel and clean out tin horns for water to drain off his property just east of 48th Avenue NW and south of Griffin’s and the Jennings’ homes.
“When they say he’s timely, he was from June 26 to July 11 timely,” Griffin said, surveying the yellow bulldozers as they moved in to work.
Moghadam’s insurance agent has said he would meet with Griffin on Monday morning.
And Griffin said Moghadam made a verbal offer of $175,000 on her property, which she turned down, saying he had flooded her house and was now attempting to buy it cheap.
Moghadam on Tuesday blamed the drainage problems on record rains.
“We certainly did not create the rain,” he said. “I feel for the neighbors. … But we certainly don’t feel like it’s anything we’ve done.”
Carol L. Cole
405-366-3538
ccole@normantranscript.com
Flooded property ignites old fight
By Carol L. Cole
Transcript Staff Writer
Northwest Norman resident Pam Jennings figures she told everyone who would listen in recent years that properties in her area would flood if an adjancent development occurred as proposed. And now she says it’s happening.
The home of Pam and Darrell Jennings at 3211 NW 48th has become “an island,” with water ranging from ankle deep up to thigh-high surrounding it. The couple’s barn and shed are flooded, their cattle are standing in “belly-deep water” and their water well is contaminated with e-coli.
“It’s not good. It’s just a mess. We can’t, of course, drink the water. We can’t shower. We can’t do laundry. We’re having to go elsewhere. We’re trying to stay here, but it’s becoming more difficult,” Pam Jennings said.
Their flooding situation has reignited a feud between the Jennings and Precision Builders developer Sassan Moghadam.
“He’s using us as his detention pond,” Pam Jennings said. “He’s draining 40 acres of property down to the bottom, which is us.”
She said the City of Norman allowed Moghadam to build his Fountainview addition, formerly known as Windstone Farms and that is causing her problems. He owns half of the development at 48th Avenue Northwest and Tecumseh Road, which was originally planned for 196 homes on 77 acres.
Jennings and Les Crabtree, who died April 23, attempted to fight Moghadam with an initiative petition garnering 2,400 signatures, through the courts and all the way up to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, losing their battle in December 2006.
Seminole County District Judge George Butner first dismissed the petitions July 28, 2005, based on an insufficient number of valid signatures and lack of the text of the relevant ordinance on the petition.
The Norman City Council voted to rezone the property Sept. 24, 2004, from agricultural use to single family dwelling in two cases concerning the property, and from residential estate dwelling and agricultural use to single family dwelling in the other.
Moghadam blames the Jennings problems on the record rainfalls.
“We certainly did not create the rain,” he said. “I feel for the neighbors. … But we certainly don’t fee like it’s anything we’ve done.”
Moghadam said the problem is that water doesn’t have anywhere to go.
He said when the initial plan for Windstone Farms was proposed, there were two detention ponds included.
Moghadam said those were later eliminated, after the neighbors protested them. The City of Norman allowed the ponds to be eliminated on a “fee in lieu of” basis.
That was vehemently denied by Pam Jennings.
“We never opposed the detention ponds,” she said.
Moghadam said the city has asked him to do some temporary drainage solutions.
“But we can’t make (water) go beyond the 10 Mile Flat Creek,” he said, noting water was backing up where it goes into the creek. “Our intent from day one was to do some improvements to the horse farm across the street.”
Pam Jennings told the Norman City Council on Tuesday night that the developer had done lots of dirt work, but had not implemented his drainage plan and still didn’t have a sewer solution, since he had planned on working with Ashton Grove.
A drainage channel created by Moghadam had silted in, she said, and the developer had been cited with several violations by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, which was confirmed by Public Works Director Shawn O’Leary.
Pam Jennings said their first flooding event occurred in mid-March, long before the downpours of May and June.
“This property has not been dry since March,” Pam Jennings said. “It’s just been this constant everyday not knowing what’s going to happen, not knowing what to expect.”
The couple is concerned that their horses that are standing in water will have hoof rot and develop black leg disease.
Properties of Chrissie Griffin and Todd Ensor also are flooding to the north of the Jenningses.
O’Leary said he believed the problems were caused more by the excessive rainfall than by drainage issues with the developer. |
Donna Prater
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posted 21 June 2007 07:04 CET
My Dominion Home that I built in 2005 is not worth what I paid for it. They sucked me in with their financing and now I don't know if I can afford it. If I sell it I could lose 10K  |
Cathi Newman
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posted 20 June 2007 19:56 CET
First Kaufman & Broad messed up on my loan it doesn't make any sense.After being in my house awhile the foundation is cracking,the stucco is cracking,and a wall over the bedroom door is cracking.There is no insulation in the walls,the rods in the windows fall out all of the time and the don't work right.The whole house shakes when you shut the front door, we had to add a lock to the back door because it wouldn't lock anymore.They foreclosed on me but the whole loan was really screwed up and nobody would check on it for me,not even the VA.Boy did I get screwed over. |
Ted Wright
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posted 19 June 2007 21:25 CET
We signed a contract with Sheridan Homes for a house that was in the later stages of framing on Nov. 10, 2006. We were told it would be ready the last of feb., then it was march, april, may....during these months we went through many mistakes, poor workmanship, but we
stayed with them because we loved the lot and the location was good,(It was 10 minutes away from my Dad, who I was caring for) and they did make some things right.
We finally reached the completion of the house , with a few things that needed to be made right, like a large paint stain in the carpet, backsplash in the kitchen was installed wrong and the shutters were too for from the windows and not all of them were straight. The ovens were also not according to the contract.
We were told by Lewis Espinar, pres. of the San Antonio office, the city of Garden Ridge said it was finished and we had 5 days to close.
We were told by the project manager they had a C of O. Neither if those were true. We checked with the city of Garden Ridge and found out it did not pass inspection and as of June 19, 2007 there was no C of O.
Now we have been told by Lewis Espinar that He would not sell us the house. He does not return phone calls from us or the realtor. We have also called the corporate office in Plano, Tx. The president and owner of the company hung up on our mortgage broker.
These people have lied to us and have brought us thru 8 months of frustration. We are living with my son and drive to my Dad's for his care that is 30 minute away. |
Mary E. Barfield
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posted 19 June 2007 15:53 CET
Huneke Homes is not true to their word. |
Wendy Flottman
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posted 18 June 2007 12:29 CET
This was my letter to the Tarrant County BBB responding to a certified mail letter from Cheldan letting us know that we would be floating away on an ARK before they'd assist us.
This is to inform you that we are in receipt of your letter dated April 30, 2007 regarding items you refuse to cover under warranty. Please be informed that we have now filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau at Fort Worth serving Tarrant, Johnson, Hood, Wise, Parker, Erath, Somervell and Palo Pinto Counties (Case No. BF80-D0D%). We have no intention of dropping this as we were told before ever closing on the house by your contractor (Randy) that we weren’t to worry about the obvious problem with the grade of the yard and that if there were a problem, Cheldan would remedy it, even after closing. We were told that Cheldan would not leave us hanging with a soggy yard and bad grass, which we paid additional money for.
The recommendations in your letter were simply absurd. Our neighbor in the occupied home is no longer watering and the problem still exists. Perhaps if Cheldan would not profusely water the unoccupied home on the other side of us, that would remedy the standing water on that side. We have no way of knowing as it seems to be watered rain or shine. As a result, we have dead grass in need of replacement.
We also have video of rising water in our backyard, coming up onto the porch by almost two inches. We also expressed our concern before closing that the slope of our back porch seemed to be extreme and were ONCE AGAIN assured by Randy that the slope was fine and that Cheldan wouldn’t leave us hanging. Thankfully, we have video to prove that it is a problem and we have apparently been left hanging.
Now, we are being told that Cheldan has no intention of honoring these words, as we should have known at the time and not closed on the house. Needless to say, we look at this purchase as one of the worst decisions either of us has ever made and continues to be one aggravation after another. We will try to help others not make the same bad decision in any way we can.
As a result of this, we will be polling all of our neighbors in the subdivision to inquire as to whether or not they are happy with the poor quality and craftsmanship of their home. If we find they are just as dissatisfied as we are, perhaps Cheldan will listen. I’m certain the company would rather not have a lot of bad publicity since the subdivision is far from being completed.
May I suggest that in the future, you caution those working for you from making claims that Cheldan has no intention of honoring.
If you wish to communicate with us further, you may reach us through the contact information above.
Our second response is below:
This is in response to your letter to the Better Business Bureau at Fort Worth of May 18, 2007.
Your position to take no action to remedy our drainage problem is unacceptable. I am only aware of one time that your landscaper viewed our property and, at that time, he told my husband that there was a problem and he would get with the “powers that be” to have the French drains installed. If this person claims to have viewed our property without our knowledge, then I must doubt the validity of his claim.
Since our last correspondence, my husband and I have sent a letter to all the residents in our subdivision asking for similar experiences and I’m sure you’ll not be surprised by the responses we’ve received.
We were told by one resident that Kathy Stroud, the Cheldan salesperson, told his wife that the last four homes in the subdivision weren’t graded properly as the person that normally does this is no longer with the company. She pointed out our lot as being one of the last four. This same person had just received French drains in his yard to remedy his drainage problem.
We’ve also spoken to four other individuals with the same or different problems. Each claiming to have complained to the warranty department at Cheldan with no result. The ones complaining of poor drainage keep getting the same song and dance as us – we’ve received a large amount of rain this year; let’s wait and see what happens once your grass grows in – etc.
I cannot understand why Cheldan would want to compromise the integrity of our foundation as we wait “for the ground to dry and start taking in water again”. The Midlothian area is not prone to monsoons but we do occasionally get normal amounts of Spring-time rain. It is not unreasonable for us to expect our new home to drain properly. Does Cheldan expect us to live with this mess every Spring? Wouldn’t it be cheaper for Cheldan, in the long run, to install the drains rather than repair foundation problems?
We are hoping to resolve this soon without being forced to take legal action. If it goes that far, the issue of our roof having to be replaced, the fact that the home was completely open to pollutants after the carpet was installed, the backyard easement issue, the story of the “second phase” going in to raise property values, the dilapidated mobile home park being sold and moved, as well as others, will surely be brought up.
I believe we’ve been more than reasonable with our requests, especially considering the general poor workmanship of the home and the below standard customer service we’ve received.
Needless to say, we are utterly dissatisfied and I'm at my WITS' END. Please let me know if anyone out there has any suggestions. We're in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and I've contacted one of the local news agencies today to see if they can't assist. |
Wendy Flottman
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posted 18 June 2007 12:24 CET
Complaint against Cheldan Homes |
Mark
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posted 18 June 2007 09:53 CET
AUSTIN, TX
I purchased a newly constructed condo from Missing Link, Ltd. on August 10th,
2006. Prior to closing, I paid $4740 to upgrade the master bathroom tub to a
shower. The shower was to include a 48 inch by 90 inch frameless glass door.
The door was to consist of 2 pieces of glass--one stationary and another
swinging door. Several pictures are at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/marksoenen/ProHomeShowerDoor
3/8 inch glass is normal for a frameless glass shower. I have contacted
numerous glass contractors and internet resources to verify this. 1/4 inch
glass was used on the door in my condo. This design flaw has caused several
issues.
Safety is the foremost concern. Both sides of the door wobble when bumped or
moved with the slightest pressure. In addition, the hinges came loose the first
week I moved in. The result was the door and stationary pieces overlapping and
banging together. A movie showing the issue is at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/marksoenen/ProHomeShowerDoor/photo#5056420466198561026
Steve Forehand, the super from Pitt Building Company (PBC - http://www.pittbuilding.com/), attempted to fix it
e the week after I closed. He tightened the door but it came loose a few days
later. He told me to contact ProHome (warranty company).
Over the past 10 months, ProHome has sent Russell Glass (original installer - http://www.russellglass.com)
out 4 times to attempt to "fix" the door. All they do is tighten the hinges
and it comes loose just weeks later. Now they want to come out a 5th time to
fix the hinges again. In my opinion, this is just another attempt to bandaid
the problem.
I contend the door was poorly designed from the beginning. 3/8 inch glass
should have been used. Several other glass contractors have said 1/4 inch is
unheard of. Furthermore, C.R. Laurence (manufacturer of the hinges) said 3/8
is what should be used. One guy even said the hinges would be more appropriate for a stereo cabinet door.
I have simply asked to be reimbursed $1500 for the defective door. This covers
the cost of replacing the door with a 3/8 inch glass door. Ultimately, I
believe it is Missing Link's responsiblity. They hired PBC who hired Russell
Glass. However, that doesn't excuse those parties for using materials they
have admitted are less then sufficient and certainly not the norm. NONE of the parties are taking responsibility nor being held accountable. |
Sherry Ramm
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posted 14 June 2007 15:39 CET
January, 2006 - Purchase of home to be built included sprinkler system, sod, and shrubs (additional cost of $2,990). In June of 2006 when construction was completed, we were advised sod must be laid to obtain cert. of occupancy. After it was laid, we were told of severe water restriction in area (we are out of state). Due to restriction, adequate watering could not be done to establish new plantings; hence landscaping died. Further, we discovered that the sod was laid in a very shoddy manner, with gaps between pieces, allowing weeds to overrun the lot.
Builder agreed to replace sod during rainy season. (We have this in writing.) After approx. 6 months, only a small amount of sod was replaced, and some of that was laid on top of old dead sod. We have received complaints from neighbors, our property management company, and notices from homeowners association threatening fines; Other landscape professionals have advised the job was not done in a satisfactory manner and that we were taken advantage of since we were not able to be on site. We had to constantly make phone calls and send emails, attempting to get the work done.
While waiting for the new sod to be laid, we had a landscape architect design a heat- and drought-resistant tree and shrub plan, and install same. In doing so, we spent an additional $2500 to replace the other dead plants.
Holiday Builders claims the installation was just fine and in keeping with professional standards. Other landscaping professionals have begged to differ.
We sought restitution through the Better Business Bureau for Holiday Builders' failure to provide a quality product installed in a professional manner. Holiday Builders, not surprisingly, LIED in their response, saying we wanted it replaced twice and that no watering was done.
Though we have their promises in writing, they continue to DENY, DENY, DENY! They are not to be trusted! |
Bruce Holte
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posted 11 June 2007 09:20 CET
ADI Custom Villas/Homes LLC build my house in Bedford, TX. Builder offered in the purchase contract a 12 month builders warrantee, but has refused to fix many outstanding problems related to defects in material or workman ship. Builder will not answer any registered letters or phone calls. I have incurred many expenses having to fix some of the problems, like garage doors that would not operate and large gaps in abbutting brick walls. |
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