Gillis

There is a large, split pear tree overhanging the sidewalk on Thornwood at 4900 Montauk Trail. This is a foreclosed property and the HOA has received no cooperation from the owning bank regarding having the tree removed. The large, heavy remaining half of the tree that completely overhangs the sidewalk on Thornwood ( 4900 Montauk is a corner house) is in imminent danger of falling on pedestrians.

Our garbage can is splitting vertically all along the back (wheel) side!! Help!

The strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street was dug up by the city late last year when our subdivision had natural gas installed. The strip was sod that matched the rest of my 15-year-old well-tended, healthy lawn. When the city left, the area was filled in with dirt and rocks instead of replacing the sod as per our HOA’s agreement with them.

Please advise how I must proceed to get the damage repaired.

Thanks,

Marsha Gillis

Because of improper grading, the roadside drainage ditch along the north side of Terry Drake Road that is behind our house at 7026 Lynnfield Drive permanently (except when there is a drought) holds stagnant water which serves as a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.

The drainage ditch is angled slightly upward for approximately two hundred feet as it heads from Southampton Place toward the Clearwater subdivision. It is unclear where this ditch would empty out if it were graded properly - there doesn’t appear to have been much planning by the city of Huntsville when the Southampton Place Phase 3 subdivision was built adjacent to Terry Drake Road in 2005.

There have been a huge amount of home and business development in the area since then, and the Terry Drake roadside drainage ditch behind 7026 Lynnfield Drive receives heavy runoff from several nearby subdivisions as well as from all of Southampton Place itself.

Since the water is unable to drain (because of the uphill grading as well as having nowhere to go); whenever it rains or many people water their grass, there is constantly standing water in the roadside ditch that then stagnates (except during drought conditions) and provides mosquitoes with a prime breeding environment (except in winter, when it is too cold.)

This permanent standing, stagnant water is usually full mosquito larvae, commonly known as “wigglers.” Naturally, a very large percentage of these mosquito larvae develop into adult mosquitoes, generating a tremendous health hazard as well as making it extremely unpleasant to be outdoors in my backyard, which is adjacent to Terry Drake Road and its associated roadside drainage ditch (particularly at dusk and in the evening.)

This is a popular walking area as well as an area where lots of kids gather to play in the late afternoon after school. Many elderly people walk for exercise in this area and families walk with their infants and toddlers in strollers. The elderly and young children are particularly vulnerable to a number of serious diseases spread by mosquito bites. Many folks walking their dogs also pass through this area and mosquito bites are responsible for infecting dogs with heart worms.

I would appreciate the City of Huntsville sending an engineer to assess this drainage issue and taking action to correct (or, at a minimum, improve) this situation. My name is Marsha Gillis and I live in the house at 7026 Lynnfield Drive and my entire rear property line (approximately 250-300 linear feet) runs parallel to this drainage ditch at a distance of about 10-15 feet.

Thank you in advance for your assistance with this long-enduring and troublesome problem. I can be reached by phone or text at 256-658-2878 or by email at makadabo@gmail.com. As well as a personal interest in seeing this issue addressed and resolved, I also serve on the Board of Directors of the Southampton Place Homeowners Association and am submitting this request on behalf of the HOA as well as myself, personally. The Southampton HOA can be reached separately at southamptonplacehoa@gmail.com.

When we previously had this flooding, which is on top of a city drainage ditch, the city came out and said they would be back shortly to clear the ditch, which was filled with gravel and dirt by the flood. Nobody has ever come to do the work and the ditch is nearly impassable now whenever there is rain and the area always floods because of the debris. Help!!

We regularly have some run-off after heavy rains but yesterday was many times worse than anything that we have seen previously. The drainage system simply is not adequate for all of the new subdivisions that have been built near us over the past couple of years (particularly since the new elementary school and Sanctuary Cove I & II were built. The drainage ditch on Terry Drake was never meant to handle any near this many homes!! Help!!! This is about 3 1/2 feet at its deepest part in my yard and it is very fast moving!

At my home at 7026 Lynnfield Drive SE, a tree on the back side of my property abutting Terry Drake fell and the city landscaping department came out and told the homeowner's association president that the city would be removing that fallen tree as well as several large cedar trees and a large amount of overgrown, poison-infested bushes and vines from the city easement area. A crew of five or six men came and removed a portion of the fallen tree and said that they would be back the next day to begin removing the cedar trees and brush. This was a couple of weeks ago and nobody ever came back. The dead tree is still there and it is pulling on several adjacent trees. I would appreciate receiving a status update on this work. Thank you in advance for your help with this problem.

Marsha Gillis
7026 Lynnfield Drive
Owens Cross Roads, AL. 35763
256-658-2878
Makadabo@gmail.com