Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Clearing the Air at Cattail

Since 2004 the residents of the Villas at Cattail Creek have endured a waste treatment nightmare. First, the private waste treatment plant built to serve the community failed to meet the standards of the Maryland Department of the Environment, even though MDE originally approved the plans. Without a functioning plant the developer had to truck the waste out of the community two times a day.

Lawsuits were soon filed against the developer, a partnership that includes Don Ruewer and Thomas Scrivener, and the builder, NVR, Inc.

In the fall of 2008 a replacement treatment facility was completed but problems remained. According to this story by Larry Carson in The Sun, the new plant seemed to be working out until last June when “unpredictable episodes of repulsive odors began seeping from the plant.”

It now appears that the problems and the lawsuits have been resolved. In today’s paper Larry writes that “The developers have also posted a $350,000 performance bond with the county to help guarantee the system will work, and have made other changes to eliminate seasonal odors emanating as late as last fall from the new replacement system. Both developments resulted from separate legal action, county officials said.”

"I can live with it," said Renee Parcover, president of the condominium association. "I'm optimistic the community will find it favorable."

Jim Wilding, the association's past president, was more enthusiastic, though he hasn't seen all the details.

"The prospect of getting all this behind us is delightful to me," he said. "l'll have very big eyes and ears for it. If it's at all reasonable to me I'll be all for it."


It’s been a long time coming but hopefully now these folks can finally breathe easy.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an a$$hole

Freemarket said...

Few people, if any, would consider hiring a builder that was not bonded to build their house. Is it different for developers? Do people buy into unfinished developments without a provision to hold the developer on the hook for making sure it gets done right?

Anonymous said...

What marked the fall of the Roman empire?

Anonymous said...

FM, the county gov't requires bond $ from the developer and when the job is completed satisfactorily, the money is returned. The county is SPINELESS when it comes to dipping into those funds to correct constant never ending 'mistakes' on the part of developers.

Anonymous said...

Why was the bond released if the system didn't work? It never did and everyone knows that. Thanks to the SPINELESS admin and their developer buddies to make the impossible possible in Howard county. I wonder what loopholes the deal has, I'm sure the tax payers will have to pay for it one way or the other.

Anonymous said...

Think about the drop in value of those homes. 4k is nowhere near an offset to the baseline financials, nevermind 5 years of your life exposed to that muck.