I've lived in a new home for approximately 3.5 years in Warren County, OH. We have an easement along the side of our property to handle water runoff from farmland behind us. When we purchased the property, we were told that the water runoff construction was not complete and excess water in the easement would be handled within one year. The easement holds excessive water that my builder has admitted was not accounted for by their engineers. The county has not signed off or returned the bond to my builder (which is thankfully the reason they are still trying to resolve the issues). We have dealt with cracks in our basement wall near the easement that were filled by our builder. The water is so excessive during heavy rains that there will be over 20' wide areas of water that flood the street.
The builder installed a 12" underground drain that did not resolve the problem. The county is insisting that the builder resolve the issue before they can get their bond back. We were presented with an "option" that the builder claims is their last resort. They want to create a swale from the easement across our backyard which would be 10-15' wide to carry excessive water during heavy rains across our property and into a detention pond (off our property). They claim that if we don't agree to this, they will tell the county that they have offered us a "minimally intrusive resolution" and will be no longer obligated to do anything else for us. They are considering a compensation package for us that will be approximately $2000.
I have serious concerns about the impact to our property value and the loss of use of land. The swale would be 10' from our property line and 15' wide for a total loss of 25' of property.
The builder installed a 12" underground drain that did not resolve the problem. The county is insisting that the builder resolve the issue before they can get their bond back. We were presented with an "option" that the builder claims is their last resort. They want to create a swale from the easement across our backyard which would be 10-15' wide to carry excessive water during heavy rains across our property and into a detention pond (off our property). They claim that if we don't agree to this, they will tell the county that they have offered us a "minimally intrusive resolution" and will be no longer obligated to do anything else for us. They are considering a compensation package for us that will be approximately $2000.
I have serious concerns about the impact to our property value and the loss of use of land. The swale would be 10' from our property line and 15' wide for a total loss of 25' of property.
