When Kristina Greening and her husband bought their million dollar Great Falls home five years ago, the weather was nice. After moving in, dark clouds formed, and a serious problem was soon detected. Rainfall resulted in a torrent of water streaming into the Greening home and sopping the yard. Greening contends that the problem is due in part to Fairfax County Park Authority’s grading of the baseball fields behind her home.
The Greening home backs up to the Nike Park ball fields. “We specifically bought it because it backs to the baseball field. We love baseball. A few months later, in 2001, they graded the Babe Ruth field, and I got my first flood,” said Greening.
Since then she’s had 14 floods, replaced the carpet in her finished basement three times, had cracks in the foundation emerge and spent thousands of dollars of her own money on steam cleaning carpets and repairing damage to her home. “In five years we’ve been able to use the basement for about a year and a half, and it’s been finished since Day 1,” said Greening.
The five year statute of limitations with the builder of the Greening house, NV Homes, will expire on Aug. 15. NV Homes has been actively helping Greening correct the situation by adding drainage and an additional sump pump to the house, but she is afraid that once the time limit expires, she will be left to foot the bill by herself.
The county has also been involved in helping to solve the problem. John Pitts with the Park Authority said, “It’s a combination of responsibilities. It’s not clearly caused by the park. It’s a combination of factors.”
PITTS SAID THEY ARE aware of the problem and “working with the Greenings to find out how the problem can be solved.” Linda Lammersen, the legislative aide for Dranesville District supervisor Joan DuBois, said a meeting is being held this Friday to determine the best course of action. “I know it’s been very frustrating for her. I certainly would be frustrated too, but not all the flooding is a result of the grading. The Park Authority has worked on a new design they will be implementing,” said Lammersen.
Greening recently hired an attorney as well as an engineer to develop ways to stop the rain and mud from damaging the property. “There are a number of solutions, but it’s not clear which one is best,” said Pitts.
While all parties agree there is a problem, no one is clearly accepting responsibility, which exasperates Greening. “For years there was finger pointing. The water is muddy, so its obviously coming from the ball field. It grades into my back yard. The county says it was always designed that way and the builder knew it,” said Greening.
Pitts said, “You know, the water has been coming that way for hundreds of years, and [she] built [her] house right there.”
“They led us to believe all along they were going to fix it,” said Greening.
Her engineer has come up with a solution, but the bulk of the work will need to be done on Park Authority land. She recently spoke with the county attorney, who Greening said was not sympathetic to her plight. “She said the county can’t give us a gift. That’s exactly what she told me. Fixing the problem would be a gift to me,” said Greening.
“I love my house, but I’m to the point I’m thinking I want to get the hell out of Dodge,” said Greening.
SELLING HER HOME without the water problem being fixed would be another issue for Greening because she would have to disclose the recurring flooding. “I’m stuck with an investment I can’t get rid of because I’d be sued if I didn’t disclose this,” said Greening.
Greening said the time and money they have had to put into addressing the flooding are beginning to wear thin. “All of this discussing takes weeks and weeks, and I’ve got money coming out of my own pocket. The insurance company doesn’t handle surface water,” said Greening.
Lammersen said the supervisor's office is “trying to expedite this.”
Greening said that if a concrete solution doesn’t emerge soon, she may file suit against both the Park Authority and NV Homes to protect her investment.