Live Oak City Council hears Ryland gripes
They came with photos and horror stories of cracked walls, nails popping from ceilings and drainage problems so severe that foundations have started shifting. For more than four hours Tuesday night, residents of the Bridlewood Park neighborhood told the Live Oak City Council about watching their new homes deteriorate around them. As a result, city officials say they will review the city's building permit and subdivision planning process. And City Council members promised to monitor efforts by the builder, Ryland Homes, to negotiate repairs with the homeowners. View: photos.
Live Oak City Council hears Ryland gripes
06/27/2007
Jennifer Hiller
Express-News Business Writer
They came with photos and horror stories of cracked walls, nails popping from ceilings and drainage problems so severe that foundations have started shifting.
For more than four hours Tuesday night, residents of the Bridlewood Park neighborhood told the Live Oak City Council about watching their new homes deteriorate around them.
As a result, city officials say they will review the city's building permit and subdivision planning process. And City Council members promised to monitor efforts by the builder, Ryland Homes, to negotiate repairs with the homeowners.
"I am not happy," said City Councilwoman Ann Mancillas, who informed Ryland officials that by her calculations, the 2-year-old neighborhood has a 15 percent error rate.
Resident Phung Luong said the cracks in her family's house are growing so much that spiders and scorpions are crawling inside. She came to the meeting with her 93-year-old-grandfather and was one of several homeowners who ended up in tears.
"I have to try very hard not to cry when I go into my bedroom," she said. "I can see that my room is sinking and the walls are separating."
Richard Schroeder, division president for Ryland Homes in San Antonio, pleaded with residents to let him get crews into the homes to do repairs. He offered to send civil and mechanical engineers to the homes, or to follow the suggestions of engineers not associated with Ryland to get the problems fixed.
"I'm going to go above and beyond," said Schroeder, who said he's been personally knocking on doors to try to meet with residents. "It's the division president willing to work with you guys and be your main point of contact."
But many residents told Schroeder they no longer trust the company. Others say they spent more than a year trying to get the company's attention, and were successful only after starting to picket outside model homes on the weekends. They've also been offering prospective home buyers tours of their homes.
"If we've stumbled along the way, we can make that right," Schroeder responded.
The problems in Bridlewood Park have inspired two Web sites, www.RylandTrouble.com, which has gotten more than 13,700 hits, and www.RylandTroubleToo.com, which has more than 8,000 hits.
The hillside community just inside Loop 1604 off Interstate 35 is filled with large brick-fronted homes that sell in the high $150,000s to low $200,000s. Ryland has sold about 105 homes there.
So far, Ryland and the homeowners appear to be at an impasse. The builder wants to try to fix the homes, and the homeowners want their money back.
Leonor Valenzuela was one homeowner who has asked Ryland to buy her house back. Her husband is ill, and she said water seeping into their garage has caused mold to grow, aggravating her husband's asthma. They paid cash for the house. "And what do we have? Nothing," she said. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
Schroeder said the company is willing to do just about anything â short of repurchasing a home â to resolve the problems.
A major point of contention between homeowners and the builder is over one street, Biltmore Lakes, and whether it sits in a floodplain. Ryland Homes and the Live Oak city engineer insist the street is not in a flood zone and that updated Federal Emergency Management Agency maps are expected to show the floodplain has shifted away from the neighborhood.
But until those new maps are approved, some Bridlewood Park homes are in a floodplain, said Kurt Menking, geographic information systems manager with Bexar Appraisal District.
The maps are what they are, he said.
Several council members said the city should look at its permitting process to make sure that future building doesn't happen in flood areas.
Todd and Nancy Ferguson, who live on Biltmore Lakes, received documents at closing stating that their home is not and never was in a flood zone. They also have several videos that show water cascading over a retaining wall into their backyard, waterfall style. Several homeowners say that although water drains from other properties onto their lots, there are no drainage easements.
The Fergusons have complained to the Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending and to the Texas Department of Insurance.
"They have our money, some of us our life savings, and we want it back," Todd Ferguson said.
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