SCHERTZ â Builder Pulte Homes is facing homeowner complaints of shifting foundations and retaining wall cracks â again. This time, it's in the Fairhaven neighborhood just northeast of San Antonio.
Homeowners say that dozens of homes in the neighborhood have had problems, everything from cracks in the walls to foundations that appear to be splitting horizontally. Some residents say they are noticing cracks starting in a retaining wall that runs along their backyards.
âAs we start canvassing the neighborhood, we're finding it's huge, just huge,â resident Faye Touve told the Schertz City Council on Tuesday night. Touve said problems at her home started when it shifted so much that a water supply line broke.
Pulte is the parent company of Centex Homes, which in early 2010 saw a rock-clad retaining wall fail in spectacular fashion between the Rivermist and Hills of Rivermist neighborhoods on the Northwest Side of San Antonio. There, the city evacuated 91 homes initially and suspended the certificates of occupancy for 27 homes for 17 months. The builder eventually purchased 22 of the evacuated homes.
Valerie Dolenga, spokeswoman for Pulte Homes, said in Fairhaven, the builder is working with homeowners and conducting soil testing and third-party engineers are monitoring homes.
â(The area is) pretty notorious for expansive soils, and with the drought, it exacerbated the issue,â Dolenga said.
Some homeowners are concerned that the cracks in the retaining wall that runs along Columbia Drive indicate a problem that goes beyond cosmetic issues.
Pulte says that is not the case.
âAfter the Rivermist situation, we did have a third-party engineer look at the wall and they gave it an A-OK,â Dolenga said. âThere are no problems with the retaining wall.â This summer, additional drainage was added to the bottom of the slope, she said.
Still, Patricia Alperin said she recently counted 28 cracks in the wall, which runs along her backyard and appears to rise more than 16 feet. âThis is our first house, and look what happened,â she said.
Ryan Whitehair said he can hear popping noises in his house as it cracks. âIt's so loud, I mute the TV because I think someone is in my garage,â he said. âIt's been nothing but a nightmare.â
He said Pulte has done cosmetic fixes to cover over cracks â one so large between the wall and floor that he could stick his hand beneath it and his wife could see it from the next room.
Although some homeowners have said they would like the company to repurchase their homes, Dolenga said the company has not considered that. âIf there are issues with the home, we're going to totally stand behind it and repair it,â she said.
In San Antonio, the Rivermist wall did not have a permit, but it turned out that was no aberration. The City Council later added retaining wall regulations to the Unified Development Code in response.
Schertz Mayor Hal Baldwin said the city relies on the builders and developers to engineer retaining walls. âTheir engineer certified by putting his name and his ... stamp on the drawings that the wall was OK,â he said.
Jessica Lawrence and her mother Brenda Davis moved into their home seven months ago, but can slide a butter knife into a crack in their garage floor. Lawrence said Pulte engineers have told them that the size of the crack is normal.
âDon't undermine our intelligence,â Lawrence said. âThis is not normal.â
Fairhaven residents thought they were going to have a chance to meet with Pulte officials Tuesday. But Pulte employees put out flyers in the neighborhood on Tuesday to announce there would be no meeting, and that it would meet one-on-one with people instead. The flyer also said it had established a website, www.fairhaventx.com and a dedicated email address,
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, to communicate with residents.
Just before Tuesday's council meeting, Baldwin offered up a prayer: âI just ask that you bring resolution to these people as quickly as possible,â he said.
Updated 02:33 p.m., Wednesday, December 14, 2011
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Name withheld
Falco
9:21 AM on December 15, 2011
"â(The area is) pretty notorious for expansive soils, and with the drought, it exacerbated the issue,â Dolenga said."
WELL THEN WHY DID YOU BUILD THERE?!?!?!
Name withheld
fairhavenvictim
8:36 AM on December 15, 2011
I have no faith that the City Council/Mayor cares about fixing the problem. The council opened the meeting by hiding in a private session to discuss their stance. What are you hiding? The city engineer leaves after this came to light, more than just a little suspicious. Why won't the city hire an independent engineer? I appreciate that they clarified the difference between civil and structural engineers, apparently we're not smart enough to know that. I wonder what the Mayor would do if it were his home, or his children's. At a minimum it's pitiful civic leadership and could be downright despicable. Stop telling us you're "trying," do something as we elected you to do.
Name withheld
MattiandMom
7:56 AM on December 15, 2011
To the Mayor of Schertz: These are your words of prayer to God:âI just ask that you bring resolution to these people as quickly as possible,â I am not sure if you are aware of this Sir, but you are the one that God has placed in a position of Authority to get this thing Resolved. You are the one that has charge over the city, you are the one that can make the Pulte-Geist Builders get out of your city. It is a matter of your willingness to take a stand for your residents, God has already given you the power to do what needs to be done. And one more thing Sir, you said at the council meeting at the beginning that you have heard over and over again the story about the cracked foundations, well these people have to relive this thing every day and if you are tired of hearing it, wouldn't you think that they are tired of living it? Time is of essence, that wall continues to move, and there are people above and below it that could potentially suffer greater harm...should that happen, their blood is on your hands...need I say more. Also the residents asked for an investigation, meaning they want you to come take a "look see" at what they have to endure daily....you never said OK. Sir, its time. Let's not have another River Mist. You are working under a Higher Authority...Trust in God and do what he has ordained you to do!