Haywood County Fails to Protect Homeowners from Landslide
Submitted by Lynne Vogel on Thu, 01/15/2009 - 7:32am
Tragedy always stirs the media and occasionally awakens dozing regulators.
The recent tragedy: a 300 foot-landslide that flattened a three story Maggie Valley, North Carolina residence on Wildcat Run Road. Bruce and Lorraine Donin, who were at home, survived. Rick Wooten, a senior geologist for the N.C. Geological Survey who investigated the site, said “It wasn’t so much that the house that was destroyed was located on a steep slope, it just got hit by a landslide that would have knocked any house over that wasn’t bombproof.”
Is the County Responsible for the Donins’ Property Loss?
The building permit for 93 Wildcat Run Road was issued in 2004: the home was completed in 2007.
In 1998 and again in 2004 the North Carolina Department of Emergency Mangement cautioned all Western North Carolina municipalities that mountain land under their jurisdiction was extremely hazardous.
Haywood County officials became acutely aware of landslide hazards in December 2003 when Patricia ( Trish) Jones, a resident of Maggie Valley, was killed by a landslide.
The Asheville Citizen-Times advised on January 10, 2008 that the county knew about the imminent landslide threat. Two reports, one from the Haywood County Erosion and Sediment Control Office and the other from a private engineering company indicated that the slope above the Donins' home was showing signs of collapse. Tim Surrett, an erosion control inspector, sent the following 2006 notice to the homeowners above the slide: “We have concerns about the slope just past your home. It appears to be exhibiting signs of failure. Please have your plan designer or other qualified person have a look at it.”
Alpha Environmental Services, Inc., the engineering firm employed by the homeowners above the slide, issued a report in 2005 that stated “this area will most likely continue to erode until the slope gives way and slides.”
The Donins' attorney, David Wijewickrama, is asking whether the county did anything to prevent the landslide. He said that county documents show that no action was taken to prevent the slide.
Marc Pruett, director of the county's erosion control office, told the Asheville Citizen-Times that "Inspectors at the time had no authority to order that work be done to shore up the slope."
In an interview with Vicki Hyatt, editor of the Mountaineer, Mr. Pruett pointed to a county map showing the Donin home site, and said there have been landslides both above and below it, as well as across the mountain top in the Villages of Plott Creek Development. The area has 30 to 50 percent natural slopes and is characterized by the same soil type. "These soils are poorly suited to building site development because of the large stones and the slope," according to the "Soil Survey of Haywood County Area."
There are other pertinent questions: why were building permits issued in a known hazardous area and why didn’t county inspectors warn neighborhood residents of the impending danger?
County officials cannot plead ignorance. Haywood County, along with all the other mountain counties in Western North Carolina have experienced serious to catastrophic landslide damage.
Haywood County is not immune from lawsuits. The United States Supreme Court ruled in April 2006 that cities, counties, and other levels of government below that of the states themselves are not protected by the general immunity from suits that states enjoy in federal court.
Building permits should have never been issued
I can't imagine their insurance company would have insured the home against landslides if it was aware of the 2005 and 2006 reports. If I had been aware of those reports I wouldn't have built. While I'm sympathetic to the Donins for their loss, it appears they acted against all common sense in building a home below an area that was compromised.
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Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.
What does your homeowner's policy cover?
What most folks don’t realize is that homeowners’ policies nationwide have become very restrictive. For instance they provide reimbursement for fire loss, a tree falling on your home or water damage caused from a broken water pipe but not much else. Damage caused by landslides, the industry calls this “earth movement” is not covered regardless of the reason. There are a few special landslide providers but they will not write coverage in high risk areas which means that all Western North Carolina mountain slope property owners have to self-insure for this hazard. The problem is no one is advising the buyer, in advance of sale, that he is purchasing property in a state designated landslide region and that insurance for this hazard is not available. I call this a failure to communicate.
I love this thread...
This same kind of thing happened to us. We bought a home in a "flood plain" unknowingly. Well, at least, no one told us that floods were prevelant where we bought our home. Now, you aren't automatically insured for floods with a standard homeowner's insurance policy in most cases. We weren't. We got flooded...but not nearly as bad as some of our neighbors. It wasn't pretty.
Thanks for bringing that up. It is incumbent on EVERYONE to ask questions from their builders/realtors and from their insurance companies when they buy a home.
Great post.
The best thinking is independent thinking.
The reason
If I understand it correctly, the reason the Outer Banks stayed undeveloped for so long was that no rational insurance company would write a policy for a house built on a sandbar. Then came Federal Flood Insurance.
Actually, it is considered disclosure on your Realtor
to tell you if your property is in a flood plain, or whatever else might be considered to be a public disclosure point of information to the public. Your Realtor is supposed to research the property for all points of disclosure and not just from the Multiple Listing Service information that they get from their computer.
If your property was sold to you with a Realtor representing you as a buyers agent and that Realtor did not check to see if your property was, at the time of purchase, in a flood zone, then your Realtor is in breach of contract. If your Realtor checked and nothing was disclosed from the local government at that time and still the selling Realtor knew you were in a flood zone, then that Realtor is in breach of contract.
There is a code of ethics that Realtors must abide by. Most do, some don't. Check with your local county officials and see if your home was considered to be in a flood plain prior to purchasing it.
North Carolina. Turning the South Blue!
I think I'm all over that...
Thanks, funluvn...we weren't really "hurt" all that much, but a few of my neighbors were, 'Preciate that info. I know that even though these neighbors could afford to get their places fixed, they shouldn't have had to do it.
Couple of them are like "too proud" to ask for help, so to speak....but hey, what's right is right.
Thanks again.
The best thinking is independent thinking.