Building permits for three lots in the Crest Ridge Estates subdivision are being held until drainage problems are resolved. Developers approached the town council at last week’s meeting to get the issue resolved. Daily Journal file photo
Developers from Crest Ridge Estates asked the Trafalgar Town Council last week for a resolution to an unresolved drainage dispute and unreleased building permits.
The developers want to put the issue to bed without a fight, but the damages are piling up and they would like for it to be resolved soon. If it comes down to it, they will sue, they said.
Developers, Rod Stafford and Mark McDaniel with Ron Fewell Development approached the town council to discuss the release of building permits for three lots in Crest Ridge Estates 2.
According to documents filed with the Johnson County Recorder’s Office, the Crest Ridge Estates subdivision is an older neighborhood in Trafalgar and was first platted and approved for over 50 homes in 1989.
A second section of the neighborhood, called Crest Ridge Estates 2, was platted in 2000, according to county documents. However, it has not been fully built out yet, and construction has started again within the last few years. Three lots in the new section are still awaiting building permits, with new streets and infrastructure already completed.
Some houses already built in that newer section of the neighborhood along Downing Drive have experienced flooding and mud in the backyards, and the homeowners claim the issues got worse when preparations for new houses behind them started.
When the problem persisted, the town of Trafalgar got involved. The town, developers, and affected residents are at odds over who needs to fix the drainage problem.
In 2022, the town paid engineering firm Curry and Associates, Inc. to study drainage plans of unbuilt lots in Crest Ridge 2, including the area where backyards were flooding.
On Oct. 18, 2022, the firm sent a report preliminarily determining that building could commence on most of the remaining lots, but building permits for three lots that back up to the flooding properties should not be released.
In a second letter from Oct. 28, 2022 the engineers added it was “immediately evident” the affected house at 27 Downing Drive with the majority of the flooding had improper grading and does not have positive drainage sloping away or around the lot to direct stormwater flowing to it. The property backs up to the three lots with unreleased building permits.
That report recommended 230 feet of storm sewer be installed from the rear yard of that lot, through the existing easement behind it to the existing storm sewer on the west side of Steeplechase Court. That would fix the drainage issues, and allow the three lots in question to be built, the report says.
However, developers don’t want to spend the money on the storm sewer because they feel that it’s not their responsibility as the old neighborhood and property in question were built before they began developing the area. They don’t feel it is fair because they did not have authority over the property and the town issued a certificate of occupancy on the Downing Drive property stating it was done correctly, Stafford said.
“Then they turn around and go, you guys messed this all up and you’re going to have to pay and we weren’t even there,” Stafford said.
Stafford and McDaniel approached the town council last Thursday to see if they were “being treated fairly on this,” they said at Thursday’s meeting.
The 27 Downing Drive lot flooded a few years ago during construction and hasn’t since, according to developers. Developers say if the homeowner slopes the yard so water runs away from his house, the problem would be fixed and the permits could be released. They want the property owner to re-contour their yard and questioned why the town couldn’t require the homeowner to do so.
“I don’t know why the town of Trafalgar is dedicated to spending thousands of dollars to defend one man that’s got his yard installed improperly,” McDaniels said. “We’re not going to give up three lots and we’re not going to build a $30,000 storm surge system. We don’t want to waste money on a courtroom, and I don’t think the taxpayers of Trafalgar want to, but that’s where it’s heading.”
They also had to break contracts because of the issue, Stafford said.
The developers believe that the property owners at Downing Drive altered the grades and installed a drain system. That issue is a civil issue and there is not much the town could help with, said Jason Ramey, council president.
Councilmember Jessica Jones said she recalled the engineers stating that homes on the three lots would have issues if built. Developers disagree, saying that it’s not possible and would take a biblical flood to affect the lots.
Ramey also recalled offering to mediate and use the town’s resources to solve the problem, but nothing came of it.
The predicament Trafalgar is in with Crest Ridge Estates is related to a common theme of a lack of oversight in town planning over the years, Ramey said. He, along with the town attorney, plans to review the documents and give their thoughts at next month’s town council meeting.
“I don’t want you guys to suffer any more than I want them to suffer,” Ramey said. “But what I’m also not going to continue to do is, as far as I have control of it, is, I’m not going to continue to approve anything that’s going to be detrimental to somebody down the road.”
