Back in 1996 when we were looking for a lot in the Legends, an upscale golf community in Georgia, we found a wooded lot we liked, but about an acre of the woods had 6-12" of standing water. Based on the mature age and relative good health of the trees on the lot, it was obvious that the standing water was a NEW problem. When we looked into this, we discovered that the original plan submitted to the town by the developer for this section of the Legends included a culvert/drain under the road to handle water coming down the hill on that lot. Prior to the road being put in, the water flowed downhill from an adjacent lot, then downhill across the lot in question, and then continued on down through the woods and into a stream. However, when the road was put in by the developer, he decided to elminate that culvert/drain. Apparently, during construction of the road the elevations and contours of the land were modified and the location of the original planned culvert/drain ended up too far up the hill to effectively drain the lot, so instead of moving it down the hill to the proper location based on the new contours, the developer just eliminated it. Hence, all the water draining down from the adjacent land above the lot could no longer continue on it's natural path because it was blocked by the road, and hence collected in the lower half of the lot.
As part of our negotiations when purchasing the property, the Vice President of the Development firm agreed (IN WRITING ON COMPANY LETTERHEAD) to put in a buried drain system to route the water down the road to an existing stream and culvert on a neighboring piece of property. We were satisfied with that plan, but since the rains were quite heavy that spring, we were worried about losing trees because of all the water, so as a temporary solution, the Developer sent a backhoe over and dug a 4' deep trench across several hundred feet of our property and the next property - to drain off the standing water into the stream, until the buried drain system could be installed.
We have tried on several occasions over the past 10 years to get the Developer to put the drain in and fill in the unsightly ditch that runs half the length of our property frontage, but each time he stalled it off. Now, in response to our latest request, he is refusing altogether.
We still have the original signed letter. Do we have any recourse? Or is there a statue of limitation on something like this?
As part of our negotiations when purchasing the property, the Vice President of the Development firm agreed (IN WRITING ON COMPANY LETTERHEAD) to put in a buried drain system to route the water down the road to an existing stream and culvert on a neighboring piece of property. We were satisfied with that plan, but since the rains were quite heavy that spring, we were worried about losing trees because of all the water, so as a temporary solution, the Developer sent a backhoe over and dug a 4' deep trench across several hundred feet of our property and the next property - to drain off the standing water into the stream, until the buried drain system could be installed.
We have tried on several occasions over the past 10 years to get the Developer to put the drain in and fill in the unsightly ditch that runs half the length of our property frontage, but each time he stalled it off. Now, in response to our latest request, he is refusing altogether.
We still have the original signed letter. Do we have any recourse? Or is there a statue of limitation on something like this?
