Burlington’s elected leaders have decided to take legal action against a developer who has failed to complete the roads and sidewalks in one area neighborhood.
Earlier this week, Burlington’s city council directed the city’s legal department to take Zach Tran of Diamondback Investments to court in order to ensure that he resumes his work on the infrastructure in the Huffman Point subdivision.
The council signed off on this course of action on Tuesday in response to the apparently long-dormant construction of the streets and pedestrian accommodations in this development off of Grand Oaks Boulevard.
The council agreed to proceed with this lawsuit after a lengthy closed session that began with a roundup of legal matters from Burlington’s city attorney David Huffman. In addition to the proposed litigation against Tran, the council also received updates from Huffman about the city’s role in a superior court case between Gretchen Bruesehoff and Kevin Overman and another that Christopher Barrett has filed against Travis Moore in district court. The council subsequently remained in closed session sans Huffman and other city staff members in order conduct performance reviews of its top employees.
Once the council returned to open session after two and a half hours, the city attorney offered a brief synopsis of Tran’s alleged lapses at Huffman Point. He insisted that the developer has taken an extended hiatus from his work on the subdivision’s sidewalks and roads, failed to complete the construction of a pedestrian bridge, and left drainage provisions in a state that encourages water to pool in the roads. He added that this state of affairs has dragged on for the better part of two years despite the city’s entreaties for him to wrap things up.
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Begun by D.R. Horton about five years ago, Huffman Point comprises some four or five dozen single-family homes with assessed tax values that range from $300,000 to $450,000-plus. These dwellings, which are complete and generally seem to be occupied, boast distinctive, two-story exteriors; spacious, well-manicured lawns; and other trappings of an idyllic suburban existence.
The roads and sidewalks in this subdivision are another story, however.
At this point, each of Huffman Point’s roadways is paved with a rough underlayer, or “basecourse,” that generally serves as the foundation for a more durable road surface. In contrast to the subdivision’s sparkling new homes, this substratum has started to crack and deteriorate – with a number of potholes marring the road surface.
[Story continues after photo of rough, uncompleted roads in the subdivision.]
The absence of a final layer of asphalt has also left manholes and waterline caps jutting up from the roadway, giving passing vehicles a noticeable jolt that seems to have also resulted in the loss of at least one waterline cap. A similar gap also separates the road surface from the subdivision’s curbs and gutters, which has undermined their function as channels for drainage and turned them into lush habitats for crabgrass.
City attorney Huffman noted that the unfinished state of these roads has prevented the city from taking over their maintenance as stipulated in the subdivision’s original plans. In the meantime, Burlington’s mayor Jim Butler drew an unflattering inference from Tran’s failure to put in a final road surface.
“So, it’s safe to say that our efforts to this point have fallen on deaf ears,” he went on to sum up after the city attorney’s account.
At Huffman’s behest, the council ordered the city’s legal department to file a formal legal complaint against Tran and his firm as well as the two bonding companies that have guaranteed his work on the subdivision’s infrastructure.
