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Injury at Hopewell's Landing brings pleas for community design changes
Residents of Hopewell's Landing are sending out a simple message to county and building officials in Prince William County: do something about the ditches on the side of the roads before someone is killed.The low-impact development (LID) community is designed by residential developer D.R. Horton to be an environmentally-friendly alternative to curb-and-gutter developments in other subdivisions that store stormwater underground.
Hopewell's Landing instead features drainage ditches in front of houses, where water collects and either streams through areas or is absorbed in the ground.
Some of those ditches can be about three feet deep at their largest points. That has created situations where cars have been seen stuck in the ditches after drivers parked too far off the road or turned too far when backing out of their driveways.
Prospective homeowners during the last three years were repeatedly told sidewalks would be installed on side of the street throughout the community and documented plans from the county dating back to 2003 bear that out. In February, the community was replanned for larger roads instead of sidewalks because the original plan for sidewalks would have placed them between the ditches and homes instead of next to the roads.
Residents have asked for permeable sidewalks over the ditches instead but issues over who would pay for them and how much they would cost have emerged.
Then there is the case of 5-year-old Kaushal Betha. According to his father Sathya and neighbor Dushyant Pandya, who has previously talked with The Times about his own issues with the community, the boy was riding his bike with several other children on June 23. Around 5 p.m., near the intersection of Rio Grande Way and Chimbote Court and directly in front of Toy Manalel's house at Chimbote, he ran into trouble.
As a car turned right from Rio Grande onto Chimbote, Betha attempted to move out of the road.
In doing so, he lost control of his bike. He fell down a two-foot ditch and his bike landed on top of him. Though he was wearing a helmet and knee pads at the time, Betha landed on his left arm and broke his elbow.
Pandya's daughter saw the accident and called Pandya over to help out. He picked the bike off of Kaushal, picked him up and walked him back home one house down the street on Rio Grande where Sathya figured his son had a sprain.
The next morning, he took Kaushal to his pediatrician in Haymarket and the doctor determined the young Betha had, in fact, broken his arm.
Kaushal now wears a cast and is due to be in one for most of July. That led his father to send an email to community residents.
"Yesterday, my 5 year old son fell into [a] so called environmental friendly sidewalk ditch on Chimbote Ct while riding bike and broke his arm," Betha wrote. "This is a warning sign of further accidents about to happen. THANKS TO DR HORTON AND PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY FOR PUTTING RESIDENTS SAFETY AT RISK FOR SIMPLE REASONS !!!"
Supervisor Wally Covington (R-Brentsville) responded to a follow-up email sent by Betha expressing sympathy and saying he would refer the matter to the county attorney. A spokesman for D.R. Horton declined to comment on the record.
Following Betha's email, community residents shared similar experiences. Two separate emails from different households told stories about their 4-year-olds falling off their bikes and into ditches on nearby Cartegena Drive, while others simply empathized.
Betha claims no county or developer representatives replied despite numerous emails being sent to them.
As in other local subdivisions, neighborhood kids in Hopewell's Landing gather en masse frequently to play in various places. The intersection of Rio Grande and Chimbote Court is one of those locations, particularly since Hopewell's Landing does not have a playground.
Homeowners like Betha and Pandya insist that though kids fall off bikes all the time, they should have an off-road alternative to the ditches.
"Don't wait until somebody dies on the roads," said Pandya.
Im surprise the ditches are legal, the low-impact design is a joke. It doesn't work, and its horrible. After a rain storm its a mess in everyone's backyard. the community has no street parking except the main road. I see everyone walking on the streets because only one road has sidewalks. Its not safe for anyone.
Posted by jheo27
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