Faulty retaining walls concern residents of McKinney subdivision

Chris Beattie / Staff photo - A retaining wall collapsed on the side of this Heatherwood subdivision home several weeks ago in McKinney. Residents of the neighborhood are concerned other walls nearby will also collapse if not repaired soon.

Several weeks ago, a stone retaining wall holding a fence at a residence bordering Laurel Oak Drive collapsed overnight, spilling out over the sidewalk and leaving the backyard on a slant. There are now orange barriers blocking the sidewalk, which borders several houses along the street, of the Heatherwood subdivision north of U.S. 380 and west of Lake Forest Drive.

Other walls lining the street and scattered around the subdivision are bowing out and appear ready to burst. And residents aren't surprised.

Duncan and others took the issue to their homeowners association, but soon discovered the HOA's board of directors is supplied by the neighborhood's developer, Jfb McKinney 2003, Ltd., which told them that because the walls' one-year warranty was up, it was on the homeowners to fix them.

The HOA refuses to take any action, citing the fact that the walls are on private property as reason.

"The developer feels it has no responsibility to maintain the walls, only benefiting an owner's property, after construction," said Chris Broach of SBB Management, which heads the HOA, in an email. "The maintenance responsibility is that of the benefited homeowner or lot owner."

Residents' next step was to take the problem to the city. City staff members told Duncan it had no record of a retaining wall being built on his property - which is about seven years old - likely because the developer previously needed a permit only for walls four feet or higher. Many of the subdivision's walls are 47 inches or shorter, or just below the threshold that the city has since lowered to two feet.

Had the developer submitted its plans to construct the walls, though, the city may still not have those plans because the walls were built about eight years ago. City spokeswoman Anna Clark said the city maintains such records up to at least five years, and often several years past.

"If the record existed, we would supply it to the homeowner upon request," she said in an email. "The homeowner would then be responsible for taking the next steps (presumably with the developer)."

Outside builders and city engineers have said the walls look to have been built unstable, doomed for an early collapse. Duncan said the HOA estimated tearing down and rebuilding the wall just on his property could cost $45,000, and that because his wall is part of one long wall along the creek behind his and others' homes, there was concern fixing one portion could jeopardize the entire wall.

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Faulty retaining walls concern residents of McKinney subdivision