Multiple Parkville residents are suing the Thousand Oaks Homes Association for alleged damages to their property that stem from the subdivision’s storm water collection pond and surrounding mound of soil.
According to the 11-page lawsuit, the Thousand Oaks Homes Association has failed to maintain its storm water retention system, which has caused soil erosion and the reshaping of the flow of storm water runoff.
Residents surrounding the problematic area are seeking more than $25,000 in compensation.
According to the suit, the storm water collection pond was created about two decades ago on Thousand Oaks Subdivision property between abutting cul-de-sacs. The retention pond, the suit says, was “not in compliance with required engineering standards or applicable county codes.”
Prior home association leaders allegedly built a “berm wall,” which is a rounded mound of soil, on the property line that separates the Thousand Oaks Subdivision with the adjacent cul-de-sac.
Although the purpose of a retention pond is to collect runoff from surrounding higher elevated areas, it caused “unreasonable and abnormal water accumulation, hydrostatic pressure and soil erosion, causing storm water runoff to adversely affect and damage” several adjacent properties, the lawsuit alleges.
For example, the suit says, in 2013 large amounts of water in the artificial pond compromised the berm structure, forcing storm water runoff to encroach upon several nearby properties.Multiple homeowners claim they sustained “significant damage” to their properties and “suffered a significant decrease in value.”
Following this incident, the Thousand Oaks Subdivision repaired the berm. But the suit alleges it was “improperly repaired” because five years later a similar incident occurred. Only this time, the Thousand Oaks Homes Association “refused to repair the collapsed berm wall.”
The homeowners who have brought litigation against the homes association accuse Thousand Oaks of refusing to apply for a storm water grant, which could provide funding to correct the recurrence of excessive storm water runoff.
Thousand Oaks is required by law to maintain and repair its collection pond, wrote the homeowners’ attorney, Nicky McNeil with the Quitmeier Law Firm.
Now, the homeowners ask the courts to provide remedies for this ongoing problem.