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Lennar fails to disclose defects and expansive soil
Wednesday, 14 November 2007

Expansive soil was not fully disclosed
It would seem the City of Hutto put too much trust in Lennar and it was blinded by collecting more tax revenue. If they had inspected, we would not be having this discussion. Dan McDowell is the city employee that is partially responsible for these problems. A quote from Dan McDowell, “Everything that is built in Hutto goes through me.” What a joke! Of course, the problems are very important when the real problem is not addressed. The problem is about honesty, trust, integrity and ethics. You can use any normative ethical principle to analyze this situation and will come up with the same conclusion. You must fully disclose.

Expansive soil was not fully disclosed
 

PICKETING: Amy Crump spends part of a September Saturday demonstrating against Lennar Corp., the Florida-based company that developed the Hutto Parke subdivision. Residents have complained of several construction issues arising from expansive soil.
Photo by Nancy Royden

 

Your article (“Council discusses construction issues in Hutto Parke,” Oct. 7) was insensitive to the homeowners and factually incorrect.

To state, “Sometimes bad things happen in life and folks just (want) to (get past them and) move on,” is the most preposterous thing I have ever read in a newspaper. This shows your lack of research and reduces the concerns regarding the law of full disclosure during real estate purchases to meaningless complaints. Have you polled every homeowner in Hutto Parke and validated the repair ratios in this community? If you did, you would not write such a biased, one-sided article.

The problem with the community does not revolve around fixing cosmetic defects. That is what Lennar would like you to believe and the City of Hutto officials would love to communicate. The problem is factual. Lennar built substandard homes, on expansive soil, and the city engineers did not enforce and inspect proper building standards.

It would seem the City of Hutto put too much trust in Lennar and it was blinded by collecting more tax revenue. If they had inspected, we would not be having this discussion. Dan McDowell is the city employee that is partially responsible for these problems. A quote from Dan McDowell, “Everything that is built in Hutto goes through me.” What a joke!

I do not appreciate Dan McDowell's conceited insinuation that the homeowners need to be educated. What arrogance. Does he think that he is the only person that can read and research? On the other hand, is he just another trained monkey of Lennar and of the City of Hutto. What university did he study at to earn his degree in engineering and geophysical science?

If anyone needs to be educated, it is Dan McDowell and the politicians of Hutto.

 

Again, the problem is not about the sudden loud popping noises that we hear when the trusses shift and nails pop or the inadequate soil grading to reduce water settlement. It is not the electrical wiring or plumbing installed incorrectly. It is not about the cracks in the bricks, siding, driveways, streets or the scrap wood they used to build the homes.

Of course, the problems are very important when the real problem is not addressed. The problem is about honesty, trust, integrity and ethics. You can use any normative ethical principle to analyze this situation and will come up with the same conclusion. You must fully disclose.

Facts:

  • All the homes were built on expansive soil.
  • This fact was not disclosed.
  • Lennar knew of the soil conditions.
  • Other areas of the country and Texas disclose these conditions to the buyers.
  • There are many more than 100 home owners with problems (Let's start with 60 percent and rising).
  • We never had the choice to choose.
  • The City of Hutto openly admitted to destroying building documents at the precise moment we really needed to see them. That is odd.

    I have some questions:
  • Why does Lennar need Hutto to facilitate communication? Lennar already knows who has the problems. We've been complaining for a long time.
  • Why do the Hutto officials instead of standing by the citizen seem to stand by Lennar? 
  • What exactly is the City of Hutto doing to facilitate communication? I still cannot figure this out. Better yet, what is the City of Hutto doing to protect the interest of present and future citizens?
  • In closing, Hutto never facilitated dialogue between Lennar and the homeowners. The homeowners continually voiced their concerns until Lennar finally showed up for a sham meeting. The city will only assist dialogue between Lennar and the homeowners that are willing to allow Lennar repeatedly moving people in and out of their homes to repair what they never built correctly in the first place. Why do they need Hutto's help? I think that the city should be helping their citizens instead.

    So please research more before printing such a shallow and poor analysis.

    Truthfully,

    Charles Fain, Hutto
    http://www.thehuttonews.com/articles/2007/11/14/opinion/news02.txt
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