LACY LAKEVIEW, Texas (KXXV) — One Lacy Lakeview family is looking for a call to action after a storm water drainage ditch built for a new subdivision has raised concerns for about a year.
They tell 25 News they’re getting the run around from the developer and city officials, so they reached out for help.
Roughly 30 feet of a partially open storm water drainage ditch ends in the Dewbre Family’s yard on Susanna Street.
The couple of five children have some safety concerts that they feel are going unanswered.
"My son has fell into it twice, and my daughter almost drowned because it gets really full with water," Ginger Dewbre said.
"Then it’s grated on the other side so anybody who steps into it can get swept under the hole.”
The family also wants to know how this drainage ditch was able to be built in their yard in the first place and take up so much of their property.
"We really basically woke up to them like, excavating this area right in front of our house and we had kinda protested that we didn’t think they should even be allowed to have this much of a coverage for the drainage that they’re putting in, but they said it’s legal," Ginger said.
"They have seven feet from the curb."
City Manager Calvin Hodde called senior reporter Bobby Poitevint directly after 25 News reached out for answers.
He says the area the drainage ditch was built on — is in the "utility easement" area which gives developers and or the city access to build on with or without notification to the homeowner and portions of land leading up to the curb — does not technically belong to homeowners, however, property owners are allowed to contest the development ahead of construction.
While the Dewbre Family is only renting their home, they said the property owner was not aware of the development either.
The family is asking for safety measures to be put in, like the open areas grated, but they feel like those concerns are going unheard from the city and developer.
Ginger says they've had “numerous conversations with different people and, it’s been a back and forth, — we’ve asked and we’ve been ignored".
She also says other residents in their neighborhood share their same concerns, and says they are looking into building their own fence to protect their family, but feel it is not their responsibility to do so.
Hodde says he has spoken with the developer and said Woody Butler Homes plans to speak with the project engineer to see what can be done to address safety concerns.
