The residents who purchased expensive townhouses and single-family homes in a western Howard County community in the state's most expensive ZIP code ended up with views of open, grassy slopes, proximity to a golf club, capacious living rooms with high ceilings, open floor plans, extra bedrooms and countryside-like quietude.
For their money - around a half-million dollars and significantly more in many cases - they also bought a headache: A truck rumbles down their street several times a day to cart away sewage because the community's on-site sewage plant does not work.
The builders said they would finish hooking up a state-of-the-art sewage treatment system once all the homes were built, according to residents of the Villas at Cattail Creek, an age-55-plus development of 93 units adjacent to the Cattail Creek Country Club in Glenwood. But the builder sold the last home in 2005, and, to date, the septic system has never met Maryland Department of the Environment standards.
If it functioned properly, the system would break down the community's sewage, then pump it to disposal fields on the grounds. Instead, the truck that residents have come to loathe has hauled away sewage since the community opened.
Angry residents filed a lawsuit in October, accusing the developer and builder of fraud, negligence, breach of warranty and breach of contract, among other complaints.
They also say in the lawsuit that the community has only two operational wells, not the four they were promised. Two wells on the property, which were to be backups in case of a water supply problem, can't be used because they do not have the necessary permit and aren't tied into the drinking water system, residents say.
Residents are seeking $60 million in compensatory damages and $160 million in punitive damages from NVR Inc. (the builder), the Villas at Cattail Creek LLC, (also known as BRS Developers, LLC) and individuals including developers Donald R. Reuwer Jr. and J. Thomas Scrivener. A mediation session - to attempt resolving the matter outside of court - is pending.
A lawyer for NVR Inc., Reuwer and Reuwer's lawyer declined to comment on the case. Neither Scrivener nor the lawyers for the other defendants returned phone calls requesting a comment.
The development is in an enclave of wealth in the state's wealthiest county. Glenwood's ZIP code became the most expensive in the region last year - with home values of more than $1 million on average - according to an analysis of home sales data by The Sun earlier this year. The analysis included only those ZIP codes and city neighborhoods with at least 10 sales in each of the two years.
The most recent census figures that compared income by ZIP code, from 1999, show a median household income of $111,000, compared with a countywide average of $74,167 and more than twice the state average of $52,868.
"It's just appalling to us," said Denise Eden, who lives in one of the townhouses with her husband and mother. "Everyone was told the same thing: As soon as the houses are done, the septic system will be finished. Would any of us have bought here if we knew this was the lifestyle we'd have? None of us would have."
The MDE and the state attorney general's office are negotiating the terms of a consent order with the developer, said MDE spokeswoman Julie Oberg. Her department approved the initial septic system plan, Oberg said, but it wasn't clear until after it was built that the system was inadequate.
"There is no public health impact as a result of this right now. They have not polluted the water or anything like that. They're pumping and hauling as an interim measure until we can get them with a new system that will serve the community's needs," she said. "It's a relatively new community, and they should have a new system that works."
But the state is not moving fast enough for residents, some of whom purchased homes in 2003.
They complain that the truck is chewing up their road and that the pumping is noisy and sometimes smelly. The roar from pumping typically goes on for about a half-hour at a time, and occasionally the truck arrives in the middle of the night, they say.
"Whenever we sit down for a meal it seems, the wretched sewage truck is pumping," said Michael Lewis, who was not warned about the sewage problem when he bought his home in 2005. "The noise level is appalling when the truck is here."
Oral Folks, whose townhouse overlooks the sewage plant, said that between the odor, the smoke from the truck's diesel engine and the noise, he almost always keeps his windows shut. Folks, 67, who moved from Montgomery County, said he and fellow residents feel trapped.
"We wake up at 2, 3 o'clock worrying about the situation," he said. "In reality, you can't sell these houses. ... Nobody's going to buy back in here with that cloud hanging over their heads."
In court filings, the defendants argue that the residents' contention that they cannot sell their homes is unfounded because nine units in the community have already been re-sold, including one sold in June for nearly $200,000 more than the original price.
They also say in documents that the units have always had a sufficient water supply and that the developer plans to replace the sewage plant. In the meantime, the pump-and-haul system is working, they say, calling the sum residents are seeking in damages "scandalous."
This isn't the first controversy over the Cattail Creek villas. In 2001, Glenwood residents voiced concerns that construction of the first townhouses in the area would set a troubling precedent and undermine the area's rural character. Some predicted that the development would affect the area's water supply and that the planned septic system would be overwhelmed, a charge the developer vehemently denied.
"Our reasons for concern are significantly different than their reasons," said Lewis, who bought long after the initial outcry and wasn't aware of it until recently. "Though I do have to, in retrospect, go along with some of the objections they expressed. Because it would appear in some respects, they were right."
rona.marech@baltsun.com