18293D77 Zeeman Draft Report With Photos 2022 08 12 2¶

HAIGHT DAVIS & ASSOCIATES, INC. CONSULTING ENGINEERS (770) 979-6650

www.haight-davis.com

August 10, 2022

Mr. Richard J. Capriola, Esq.

Winter Capriola Zenner, LLC One Securities Centre 3490 Piedmont Road BE, Suite 800 Atlanta, GA 30305 Ms. Sarah Zeeman 2740 Grove Street, NE Brookhaven, GA 30319

RE:

Evaluation of Drainage Issues — Sarah Zeeman Residence, 2740 Grove Street, NE, Brookhaven, GA 30319

Project No. LS-22-122

Dear Mr. Capriola and Ms. Zeeman: On Marchel7,

2022,

Frank Davis,.EIT accompanied by Vincent Lim, Project) Engineer,

performed a limited inspection at the property located at 2740 Grove Street, NE, in Brookhaven, Georgia.

The purpose of our inspection was to evaluate the site drainage concerns identified to

us by the Homeowner, Ms. Sarah Zeeman. This report is prepared for the exclusive use of Richard J. Capriola, Esq. and Sarah Zeeman (Homeowner) for specific application to the residence and property located at 2740 Grove Street,

NE in Brookhaven, Georgia. The conclusions and recommendations herein are rendered using generally accepted standards for construction and engineering practice in the State of Georgia. These conclusions are based upon information provided by the Homeowner, the results of our visual inspection, and our past experience. No intrusive or other testing was performed, nor were building materials removed or excavations made for further observations. We did, however, perform an elevation survey of the property during our visit. I have reviewed the following documents prior to writing my report and some of my opinions are based upon them: 1.

Timeline of Events from Homeowner, dated January 26, 2022.

2.

Photographs and Videos from Homeowner, various dates.

3.

House Renovation Plans — Sweatman Residence for 2746 Grove Street, NE, Brookhaven, GA, plus submittals related to approval set dated August 4, 2020 — Permit No. BLR2000100.

4.

Fence Replacement Plan — Sweatman Residence for 2746 Grove Street, NE, Brookhaven,

GA, approved on July 29, 2021 — Permit No. FEN21-00107. 5.

Brookhaven Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 27, Article IX, Division 3, Section 27-955

No other warranty, expressed or implied, is made, nor is any guarantee given other than that professional care and standards were applied.

DESCRIPTION AND BACKGROUND The residence located at 2740 Grove Street, NE in Brookhaven, Georgia is a two-story home

conventionally framed with wood (Photos 1-4). The house has poured concrete foundation walls with a concrete slab-on-grade at the crawlspace level. It is veneered with stone and stucco. A side-facing two-car garage is located at the front left of the home. The lot is sloped)gently from right®*\to left, from front to rear (for the front three-quarters of the

lot) and from rear to front (for the rear one-quarter of the lot). An elevated deck is located at the right rear of the structure. The kitchen window bumps out beyond the foundation wall along the

right side. The home was constructed in 1993, at the same time and byrthe same Homebuilder as the adjacent home located at 2746 Grove Street, NE. The Homeowner moved into the home in

2006 and is the second owner. Recent construction activities, including the reconstruction of a deck, partial enclosure of the

deck with a roof system and the construction of a new fence, have taken place at the neighboring property located at 2746 Grove Street, NE. During these construction activities, the Homeowner noted damage to her property in the form of erosion issues in the backyard and damage to her section of fence that was previously attached to the replace section of fence. Our assignment was to evaluate the concerns identified by the Homeowner with respect to the drainage issues and property damage. *Orientation is viewing the home from the street.

EVALUATION A. Drainage Conditions (Photos 5-19). The rear yard is sloped such that it naturally accepts surface, sheet flow, drainage from the neighboring property and directs it across the

rear yard to a small drainage swale that discharges to Osborne Road located along the left side of the Homeowner’s lot. During the construction of the neighbor’s deck, the Homeowner noted that an

excessive amount of concentrated surface runoff, from the neighbor’s property, had developed at the right rear corner of her property. The excessive amount of flow created a surface erosion condition that in turn caused the gravel lined drainage swale, along the left rear of the Homeowner’s property, to be filled with silt. The filling of the swale eventually caused water to back up into the

Homeowner’s backyard, resulting in a large area of water ponding. Since the ponding, there is a section of the backyard, over the sanitary sewer easement that has started to settle, adding to the ponding issue. During our evaluation, there was no ponding present, except in the drainage swale to the left side of the Homeowner’s property. However, the depressed area of the backyard remained extremely saturated, such that water would emit from the soil underfoot when walking across. The soil settlement, depression and ponding water is a direct result of a change in the drainage pattern coming from the neighbor’s yard. An evaluation of the neighbor’s plans, obtained by the Homeowner through an open records request, reveals that the drainage from the neighbor’s property was modified such that the runoff became more concentrated as a result of adding a roof system with gutters and downspouts. The notes on the site plan indicate that there is no change to the impervious surfaces with respect to the new construction. This statement is not correct. The square footage of the new deck with existing stairs is the same as the existing deck. The new roof over the deck, however, extends beyond the footprint of the deck by approximately 18 inches to the rear, at the gable end, and approximately 12 inches on each side of the screen portion of the deck. The rear overhang and the left side overhang increase the impervious surface area.

The plans also called for the existing deck stairs and landing to remain. This however is not the case as the current stairs are oriented differently than what the plans indicate and appear to include a stair landing in the middle of the stair run. This observation was made by looking over the fence. Further evaluation of the new stair construction is needed to determine the as-built condition and square footage to compare to the permit drawing notations. Additionally, a subsurface detention system was required to be installed to capture the new runoff. No calculations were provided on the drawings to determine the size of the required size of the detention system.

According to the site plan, the detention system was installed close to the property line with the overflow positioned such that it creates a concentrated flow directly

towards the Homeowner’s property.

B. Fence Construction Issue (Photos 20-31). The new fence constructed by the neighbor has not been constructed according to the scope identified in applying for a fence permit. The scope stated that the unfinished side, the side where the horizontal 2x framing at the top, middle and bottom of the fence is visible, would face the fence owner’s (2746 Grove Street, NE.) property. The scope also explicitly states that the finished side of the fence would face all adjacent properties.

In addition to the specifications identified in the proposed scope with respect to the orientation of the finished side, the Brookhaven Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 27, Article IX, Division 3, Section 27-955, Item (b) states that “The finished side of all

fences shall face the abutting property and public right-of-way.” The fence,“however;»was constructed with the unfinished»sidesfacing’Ms»Zeeman’s property. The fence constructed on 2746 Grove Street, NE does not meet the Brookhaven Zoning Ordinance or design requirements, The right ends of the Homeowner’s front and rear fence sections were attached to the

fence section that was removed for replacement. These fence connections were made well before the Homeowner purchased the property at which time no conflicts with the fence were known. During the demolition of the fence section being replaced between the two properties,

the front and rear sections of the Homeowner’s fence were cut at the property line. The fence section removed provided structural support at the fence corners. Since the new fence was installed, the Homeowner’s fence sections were not re-attached to the new section. With the fence ends not properly supported, these ends have started to fail. Additionally, a large gap was created between the Homeowner’s fence and the new fence which leaves the backyard unsecure and allows an escape path for the Homeowner’s pets.

According to information provided by the Homeowner, the fence section that was removed and replaced was also constructed such that the unfinished side was facing

her property. Under most situations, the unfinished side is constructed on the fence owner’s side of the fence.

It is also important to note that the rear fence section was originally constructed as a continuous fence. Separating the continuous fence section also create a condition that weakened the Homeowners’ portion of the fence.

CONCLUSIONS The home located at 2740 Grove Street, NE, in Brookhaven, Georgia has experienced damage due to concentrated storm runoff coming from the neighbor’s property. The change in surface runoff flow from a sheet flow to a concentrated flow is the direct result of construction activities that took place on the neighbor’s property. The ponding water at each rain event and the excessively saturated soils have severely limited the use of the backyard. Activities involving the replacement of the fence section between the Homeowner and her

neighbor have damaged the remaining fence sections and has created an unsecured backyard for the Homeowner and her pets. In addition, the co