IRMO, S.C. — An Irmo neighborhood has been in a three year battle over a partially collapsed brick wall. Upset residents have reached out to News 19 for help in reaching a solution.
Back in May of 2020, homeowners in Carmel Commons explain they came home to a giant problem: a fallen brick wall. "It's about eight feet, nine feet tall," Irmo homeowner Philip Herterick said.
"The bottom of this (wall) is pushing out," Herterick said. "There was a storm (that) came through. We got a phone call from Bonnie Cosper, who lives here next door, that the wall fell."
A group of about four to seven homeowners have been trying to get it fixed ever since. "They have not maintained this (wall) at all," Herterick said.
Philip Herterick lives to the left of the wall with his 95-year-old mother. He tells News 19 back when this happened, they reached out to their homeowners insurance company and their HOA.
The neighbor to the right, Bonnie Stewart, reached out to Lexington-Richland School District Five because they share the back side of the wall.
According to a Lexington County GIS map, the wall sits right on top of the property line.
"One of the things that the insurance companies were saying is the wall was a privacy wall and you had all this dirt on the back side of it. It should have been a retaining wall and because of all the pressure from the dirt, the rain, the wetness, all of that, the growth that's all there created more pressure behind the wall and eventually it fell," Herterick said.
Herterick explains the homeowners insurance company said the loss wasn't covered. He adds the HOA said they weren't involved. And Stewart said Lex-Rich 5 refused to do anything.
That's why they say they felt their only option was to pursue it from the legal side of things.
News 19 reached out to Lex-Rich 5 and they say since this is pending litigation, the school district cannot comment.
News 19 also reached out to the Carmel Commons HOA. They sent us a statement saying in part, "The wall is not Carmel Commons Homeowners Association property and are not on Common Area (land owned by the Association). The wall is on the property lines of the individual Lot/Homeowners."
"We're trying to figure out next steps. We've had brick masons, engineers, people come out here that we've paid for out of our money to look at the wall, try to make ideas of how to resolve the problem," Herterick said.
He explained that the group of homeowners just want a reasonable answer.
Herterick tells News 19 he plans to meet with his lawyers in the next couple of weeks to game plan their next steps. They expect another mediation later this year and hope there can be some resolution.