KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tall weeds and a pit of mud fill a Northland neighborhood, and the pond that was advertised by the builder is missing.
When bulldozers moved in to build homes near Northeast 119th Street, a farm pond was saved. Aerial photos show the pond existed throughout the decades.
Once people moved into the homes, the unexpected happened. The pond vanished almost overnight.
"The weeds are about 6 feet tall. It's nasty," Tina Hunt said.
It's an eyesore neighbors never expected. They moved in thinking they would boat because this used to be a pond.
"It was a nice place to have a house to relax and enjoy all that," Howard Parks said.
The pond was filled with so much water it spilled over the banks. Then, "the area around the spillway had given way. It failed slowly overnight," Parks said.
There's a creek on the other side of the dam so nothing flooded when it broke. However, the water barreled through with such force it moved drainage pipes and washed away the soil carving out a cliff.
"Children are naturally drawn to that and it's dangerous," Hunt said.
For the last few years, neighbors have been fighting to fix this danger. Frustrated, they called for action.
One neighbor works for a construction company and even offered to donate his time and equipment. It's estimated that would put the cost at just $5000. However, nothing ever came of the offer.
"We told everything from nothing is going to happen to it's been declared a wetland area," Parks said.
The developer told Call For Action it's hard to move forward with a wetland. But, when we called the Army Corps of Engineers we were told only the pond is a wetland. The dam is not a wetland, and the Corps thinks the pond will return if the leaking dam is fixed.
So, neighbors are moving forward and hoping to get their families off dry land this summer. "I really want my pond back," Hunt said.
The President of the Homeowner's Association says the permit process is moving forward. The goal is for work to begin soon.
