Homeowners Mired in Fight Over Seepage

Jerry Kritzer stood by and watched while a couple of men ripped up his living-room carpet Wednesday and proceeded to dig a hole in the floor right next to his fireplace.

*

The Moorpark resident invited the workers to bore exploratory holes in his floor to test the moisture that had apparently been bubbling up into the two-story home since it was built 10 years ago.

Kritzer and three other homeowners in the Mountain Meadows development on the southern end of the city are embroiled in a lawsuit with the builder of the homes--Urban West Communities of Santa Monica--claiming that their homes, which originally cost $400,000 to $600,000, have been made worthless because they were built on a former lake and wetlands area.

After the wetlands and the lake were filled with dirt during construction, recurring moisture from an underground water source began to percolate to the surface, Kritzer said.

The result, according to the homeowners, is that the water has damaged their homes by destroying carpets, floorboards and linoleum and producing a dank, musty smell.

“It’s caused a lot of frustration and anxiety,” Kritzer said while the workers hammered away on his concrete floor. “We felt the developer was dragging his feet for two years, so we decided to take action.”

The group hired prominent Oxnard attorney Mark Hiepler, who won a landmark $89-million lawsuit against the health insurance company Health Net in 1993. Hiepler filed a lawsuit against Urban West this spring.

But the developers question Kritzer’s assertions about continued underground moisture and said they are working with the affected homeowners trying to determine the exact cause of the problem.

“We first have to know just what the problem is before we can deal with it, or say who has to deal with it,” said attorney Gregory Dillion, who represents the company.

The fight between homeowners and Urban West began as far back as 1988 when about 100 residents signed a petition demanding that something be done to fix the water damage that they were experiencing.

Urban West did concede that there was a problem, but said it wasn’t from a pre-existing wetland but from over-watering on the part of the local homeowners associations.

“Developers build in these types of areas all the time without any problem,” Dillion said.

But the company agreed to buy a few residents new carpets or linoleum, and tried to seal the foundations to prevent moisture from seeping into the concrete pads on which the homes stand. In addition, it also tried to reconfigure the drainage pattern around the homes, attempting to divert natural runoff away from the structures.

It seemed to work for some homeowners, but for Kritzer and three of his neighbors, nothing has changed.

“Frankly, it’s a mystery why these four homeowners still have a problem,” Dillion said. “The work Urban West did cleared up the problem for more than 90% of the other homeowners.”

But Kritzer said his water problem does not have to do with runoff or excessive irrigation, adding that he has the proof to back it up. The water is coming from underground, so it does not matter whether there have been heavy rains or a long dry spell--the moisture is always there, he said.

According to an environmental impact study done before construction of the homes, the area did have several ponds and a wetlands that were contained by an earthen damn.

The case has caused some tension among Kritzer’s neighbors who worry that their homes will lose value because of the lawsuit’s disclosure about drainage problems in the neighborhood.

“I know there are quite a few people who are angry with us,” he said. “But you know we have our life savings in this place; we’re trying to protect that.”

Kritzer has his home in the 12700 block of Summer Street up for sale, but he has been told by realtors that nobody would buy the place in its present condition. Another homeowner lives on the same block, a third within two blocks and the fourth about half a mile away.

The two sides are awaiting the results of the moisture test, which is being paid for by Urban West, which is expected to be complete by November.