O'FALLON, Mo. — Residents of a St. Charles County subdivision are upset after construction crews created a cliff in their backyard, but contractors said the solution isn’t as simple as finding someone to put up a fence.
When Drew and Emily Dickherber moved to O’Fallon, Missouri, five years ago, they chose the Brookside subdivision for one reason.
“Everyone’s got kids around the same age,” said Emily Dickherber. “Our kids all play wonderfully together.”
“Having a bunch of young families with a bunch of young kids, we can just let our kids run between the houses. It’s been great,” said Drew Dickherber.
Though they always knew the area was primed for development they never imagined how the scale of the work would impact their community.
“Homes are exploding out here, in this area,” said Drew Dickherber. “To build the subdivision behind us, they have had to grade it down so much that it’s probably a 30-40ft. drop in our backyard right now.”
“It’s becoming a definite safety issue,” said Emily Dickherber.
Concerned about the safety of the kids in the community, the Dickherber’s reached out to leaders with the city of O’Fallon as well as the builder, Lombardo Homes, who installed a small barrier near the ledge.
“Right now, no one feels comfortable with our children playing in the backyard,” said Emily Dickherber. “Really, that (small barrier is) not going to stop anyone from falling.”
Plans submitted by Lombardo Homes and approved by the city of O’Fallon show a retaining wall is scheduled to be built in the area.
“Ok, well when is that,” asked Drew Dickherber.
“As you can see right now if you walk back there, that’s not going to happen anytime soon,” said Emily Dickherber.
“Having a literal 40-foot drop off our backyard is unacceptable to me,” said Drew Dickherber.
Doug Nance, Land Development and Acquisition Manager for Lombardo Homes, provided 5 On Your Side with this statement on the situation:
“Lombardo Homes is currently in the process of developing this site. We do have a retaining wall that is scheduled to be installed per the improvement plans approved by the City of O’Fallon. We have experienced delays with rock breaking, material supplies, and labor availability which most construction companies across the country are also witnessing. These delays have made it difficult to forecast completion dates that can be broadcast with any level of confidence. Rest assured we are pushing as fast as we can, but simply cannot guarantee a finish date.
Already installed, is orange safety fence at the top of the excavation. This fence will be removed once the wall is constructed and replaced with a permanent fence.
Lastly, in the same timeframe as the wall, we expect to be installing safety signage.”
“How would you feel if I dug a 40ft. fence in your back yard, didn’t put a fence around it, and said it’s fine we’ll put a fence around it at some point,” asked Drew Dickherber.
“A kid is going to wind up falling off of that ledge, and it’s a horrible liability in my opinion,” said Emily Dickherber.
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