Residents of Creekwood fed up with neighborhood problems

Creekwood resident Danelle Liddell speaks to members of The Woodlands Township Development Standards Committee on Wednesday, May 2, about conditions in her neighborhood. Liddell and four other residents of Creekwood also complained about the issue on April 28 at a meeting of The Woodlands Township Board of Directors. less Creekwood resident Danelle Liddell speaks to members of The Woodlands Township Development Standards Committee on Wednesday, May 2, about conditions in her neighborhood. Liddell and four other residents of ... more Photo: Photo By Jeff Forward/The Villager / Photo By Jeff Forward/The Villager Photo: Photo By Jeff Forward/The Villager / Photo By Jeff Forward/The Villager Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Residents of Creekwood fed up with neighborhood problems 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Complaints of broken windows, dogs running loose, excessive numbers of parked cars, too many people living in homes, over-flowing trash bins and mold were some of the allegations levied at a small group of renters in one neighborhood in The Woodlands during a recent township board of directors meeting.

One by one five residents of the Creekwood neighborhood in the Village of Panther Creek approached the speaker podium at The Woodlands Township Board of Directors meeting on April 25, each one diligently and calmly relaying their extreme frustration with alleged out-of-control neighbors who they say rent an unknown number of homes in their neighborhood.

Danelle Liddell, the first to speak about the problems, told members of the board that she believes certain renters as well as what she called disinterested owners of the homes were ruining the neighborhood, including having dogs running loose and other problems. She also claimed she was attacked by Rottweiler dogs several years earlier.

Liddell later visited the May 2 meeting of the township’s Development Standards Committee where she gave a more than four minute speech during public comments, echoing many of the remarks she told the board of directors.

“I believe these owners (of the rental homes) are a business and should be regulated,” Danelle said on April 25.

Danelle’s husband, Chris Liddell, also spoke to the board, telling the members Creekwood is his home and he wants to keep it nice. He also said he believes the residents who are not maintaining homes and properties are renters in the area, but he provided no proof of that to township officials.

“It’s our neighborhood, and we want to make it better,” Chris Liddell said. “We would be grateful to see some action.”

One resident, Cory Wise, said he has lived near Tanglebrush Drive for five years and during that time period he has witnessed what he labeled “significant deterioration” of the residences in the neighborhood. Wise also told the board members that the township’s process of three notifications to alleged violators of covenants was ineffective because the renters and owners of the homes in question merely ignore the notices and then nothing is ever done by township officials.

Because the five residents comments were made during the public comment portion of the meeting, board of directors members could address the individual claims made. However, the issue was later brought up as an agenda item to “consider and act upon a report of property conditions” in Creekwood.

Attorneys Hennie Van Rensberg and Bret Strong, who represent the township in legal matters, both addressed the board, telling them more than 400 notices of covenant violations had been issued to residents and homeowners in Creekwood, and to date, more than $22,000 of township funds have been used to help residents fix problems.

Van Rensberg described the township’s notice of violations process, which includes three types of notices sent to potential covenant violators. The first notice informs a resident and homeowner that a violation exists with the hope whatever is wrong is fixed or dealt with. The second violation is sent 15 days after the first is intended to order the resident and homeowner to fix the problem immediately or within a certain time period. The third and final notice informs the violator that unless the problem is fixed, the township will hire a contractor to do the needed work and bill the resident.

In addressing some of the residents’ complaints, Van Rensberg said township officials are prohibited by law from entering a property without consent, and he also noted the legal definition of a family is wide ranging and trying to limit the number of people living in one particular home is extremely difficult legally.

Strong also reminded attendees and board members that covenant violations are civil issues, not criminal, which can lead to lengthy, protracted legal battles between the township and residents or homeowner who violate covenants.

“It is a civil process. The DSC is who is going to be enforcing this,” Strong said, adding that 90 percent of notices of violation are promptly dealt with by both renters and homeowners. “There are some things we are looking into to make the process quicker.”

Van Rensberg said any notices of non-compliance with township covenants are sent both a potential renter of a home as well as the official owner of the home.

Township board member John McMullan said offenders may “comply for a while,” but he added that because the township is not a city, the violations must be done through the civil court process.

Strong said some county judges are reluctant to get involved in cases due to the complex issues of home ownership, the fact that the violations are a civil matter and questions about who or how many people can reside in a home.

“When cases are set for trial, it could be six months to several years before it is in court,” Strong added. “We have property we have been dealing with for four to five years.”

Township board member Bruce Rieser said he believes the violations notification system works for 90 percent of the people who commit violations, but added the township has an “obligation to our residents” to resolve the recurring issues.

“At some point, we’re going to have to do something to change the game,” Rieser said. “We have absentee landlords. We have landlords actively gaming the system.”

Strong agreed with Rieser, and he also noted that the origins of The Woodlands and founder George Mitchell’s philosophy did not address the issue of single family homes being rented, or another issue that has cropped up recently: the tearing down of existing homes to build new, more modern structures.

“The covenants were written 45 years ago,” Strong said. “There are a lot of things in the covenants that were not contemplated.”

— Be sure to check out our online version of this article at www.yourwoodlandsnews.com where a four-minute video of Dannelle Liddell addresses the township DSC about her complaints.