"69strat" writes:

It looks like nothing can be done about the street being added
according to the lawyers and city officials. They had these plans
since '99. We bought our house on this culdesac in '02 and were not
told about a street going next to us.

Ouch. Man, makes me wonder how much **** you need to check about the
area before making purchase anywhere. Yeah, legally no one would
really have to tell you actively about those plans.

Curious now... where would these plans have been registered? County?
City?

I'm ****ed as this keeps getting worse. I talked to the builder and he
said he'd put a larger yard drain in for me. I don't want that. I want
him to build up my land, but the problem is, then that will be higher
than my house and water will come towards the house!!!

Yeah, negative slope toward the house when you already have a drainage
issue would be a very bad thing. When you go to sell the inspectors
will flag that in a heartbeat and make your house even harder to sell.
I might reconsider the larger yard drain. Anything that gets more
water the heck away from your house should be what you want.

Sounds like you're at least hooked up with the folks who can help you
with this now though. Keeping at them and working with the builder
while they're around is about all you'll be able to do. It sucks
that you were had on the whole culdesac deal though. It's not
something I'd have known to check out either. :-\

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/