THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 7, 1995 TAG: 9503070233
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
Hazel Hoban, 66, is jolted awake most nights by a creepy sensation.
She fears snakes have slithered through gaping holes that have formed between the walls and floors of her house since the foundation started pulling away.
Hoban hates snakes.
Two engineers have told her that her Lamplight Manor house is sinking because of a city drainage canal that runs behind it. But the city claims no responsibility, suggesting the house was poorly built.
``This is really scaring me,'' Hoban said. ``This has been going on since October and everyone says, `Sorry, it's not my problem.' ''
Hoban, who divorced when her children were young, is semi-retired and does not have much money.
She works two days a week as an emergency-room nurse. She's raising her 16-year-old grandson, Justin, whose mother was killed by a drunken driver.
Hoban bought the brick ranch near Lynnhaven Mall 13 years ago with insurance money from her daughter's death. Her daughter's dying wish was for Hoban to buy a house and raise her son.
Hoban was aware of the city-dug canal that ran behind the house and the 54-inch drainage pipe under the side yard that carries storm water into the canal. The canal runs through the Lamplight Manor and Magic Hollow neighborhoods.
The house was sound, she assumed, or the mortgage wouldn't have been approved.
But over the years, Hoban noticed that her back yard was sinking and starting to slant toward the canal.
``My shrubs are leaning that way,'' Hoban said. ``My clothesline is leaning that way. My yard has sunk five to six inches since I moved here.''
But the real trouble began last summer when Hoban found several sink holes just over the pipe. Big holes: 4 feet across and a foot or 2 deep.
The city blamed cracks in the pipes and fixed them. Hoban said she had to fill the holes, first with concrete, then with dirt.
Then Hoban noticed a crack in her chimney. In the past several months, the chimney has pulled so far from the house that it is useless. A fireplace insert that had helped to heat Hoban's home can no longer be used safely.
She also discovered that the floor was pulling away from the walls. Hoban can slip her hand between the carpet and the wall and feel the outside air.
Hoban first called her insurance company, which sent an engineer who determined the canal has contributed to her settlement problems.
So she called the city, which also inspected her house but said the canal is not to blame.
``It appears the footings (of the house) have not been properly poured,'' said Robert Esenberg, the city's risk manager. ``Unfortunately, we see that around the area.
``It's just one of those situations that seem to occur over time. Houses will settle.''
Hoban's next call was to a real estate lawyer, Jerry Mack Douglas Jr.
``We're going to make the city responsible for its actions,'' Douglas said, noting that the house was built before the canal was dug. ``No other houses in the neighborhood are sinking. And no other houses are that close to the canal.''
Douglas and Hoban hired their own engineer.
Lewis H. Bridges Jr., a structural engineer, said the earth is sliding into the canal. ``It doesn't take much movement in this direction to cause problems with the foundation,'' he said.
The canal comes closest to Hoban's house, then turns away. The bank is eroding at the turn.
``It doesn't take a mental giant. . . ,'' Bridges said. ``You don't have to be an engineer to look at this and say this is too close.''
The canal, he estimates, is 30 feet from Hoban's house. The city says it's 46 feet. However, the top of the bank is even closer, maybe 15 to 20 feet.
Bridges has suggested that to correct the problem, the canal should be relocated, or a pipe should be placed in the canal to carry the water, then be covered with soil. Another possibility, he said, would be building a bulkhead behind Hoban's house to stop the erosion.
While the damage is not a hazard yet, it's unlikely anyone would buy the house or could find a mortgage company that would lend money for it.
``I'm stuck,'' Hoban said, ``with a house that's coming apart at the seams.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by D. Kevin Elliott, Staff
Justin Trask, 16, checks a crack in the house in the Lamplight Manor
section of Virginia Beach. His grandmother owns the home.
Photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT, Staff
Hazel Hoban chats with Jerry Mack Douglas Jr., her lawyer. ``We're
going to make the city responsible for its actions,'' Douglas said.
``No other houses in the neighborhood are sinking. And no other
houses are that close to the canal.''
by CNB