HUTTO — Residents say a developer’s mistake has left neighboring properties with flooding and other damage, and these homeowners want to know if the city is going to leave them to sink or swim on their own.
Several Old Town property owners whose yards adjoin the southeast border of the mixed-use development Durango Farms came to City Council on March 23 to ask the city for help. They reported flooding up to two feet deep occurred on at least three occasions in 2022, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage.
“What I’m asking is for the city to come to our aid as citizens of your town,” said homeowner Tara Velasquez to council members. “We’re injured. We’ve all sustained damages. As the guardians of your citizens ... protect us from negligent development like what we’re seeing in the Durango Farms drainage.”
The original engineering plans from site developer MA Partners showed that the Durango Farms land was meant to be graded so that drainage ran away from existing homes, according to City Manager James Earp.
“When (residential builder Meritage Homes) got the lots and started to build the pad sites, well they quickly learned that it wasn’t graded the proper way for the water to go the direction it needed to go and it was puddling at the back,” Earp said. He said according to documents a swale was built to channel runoff, but it appeared to have been filled in during the pad site construction.
Earp said Meritage tried to correct the issue with a French drain, but the drain was installed incorrectly and at that point the City stepped in and had them rebuild it. It is still under construction, but so far this year, that has been sufficient to stop flooding.
However, homeowners say damage has already been done and are looking for restitution.
“Who’s going to be financially responsible for this damage, that seems to be the buck that nobody wants to pick up. Is it MA Partners, is it Meritage, is it the City of Hutto? I can’t imagine a situation where the financial burden would fall to the citizens for the mistake of development,” Velasquez said.
Adding to the issue is the relative newness of the city’s top staff, residents and officials said.
“The thing I can’t answer is how it didn’t get done in the first place,” Earp said. “There’s nobody here for me to talk to that was here, there’s no documentation that says, ‘this is why.’ But what I can say is since I’ve been made aware of it we’ve been trying to get a resolution, because you’re right.”
Earp explained that the city’s options may be limited because the issue does not involve public property or public utilities.
“If this were a public improvement that didn’t get built, it would be all us 100%, but since it’s a private one, all we’ve really been doing is what we can: serve as mediators and try to leverage Meritage to get the situation resolved,” Earp said.
But that response did not satisfy Velasquez.
“My question is, with the amount of homes on the Durango Farms side, how were there so many certificates of occupancy, so many homes sold and closed in the development that didn’t have infrastructure in place that they’re required to have? How was that allowed to go on?” Velasquez said. “And how do we as citizens move forward confidently with you as our stewards?”
We’re injured. We’ve all sustained damage.” “
- Tara Velasquez
