Will some riprap break the Breakers?
The Breakers Association sued the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District for a declaratory judgment in Madison County Circuit Court in August. At issue: Who is going to pay for some riprap?
Construction of the Breakers condominiums began in 1980. The development now consists of 87 units in 11 buildings. The Breakers sit between Main Harbor and the Ross Barnett Reservoir (as shown in the picture above.). A lease was executed with the District in 1978.
The complaint claims the original lease did not specify who was responsible for the rip rap on the reservoir side of the Breakers' property. However, the Breakers cites one section of the lease:
Lessor reserves the right to make such variations and fluctuations in the water level in the reservoir from time to time for the proper operation and maintenance of the reservoir or for the maintenance of the minimum flows, and/or for the maintenance of water quality standards or the enhancement of fish and wildlife.
The Breakers argues since the lease does not specifically state it is responsible for maintaining the riprap, the responsibility falls on the District. However, the District predictably claims the Breakers is responsible for riprap maintenance. The dispute began in 2013.
The District attempted to execute a new lease that placed riprap maintenance with the Breakers but the Association refused to sign the agreement.
PRVWSD obtained estimates for fixing the riprap adjacent to the six buildings on the reservoir side of the development. The cost of repair will be over $75,000. The District's Chief Engineer, Mark Beyea asserted
the erosion that has occurred is primarily at the top of the riprapped slopes. To be able to control the water and prevent future recurrences of the erosion, all roof sections on the lake side must have gutters along the downslope side with downspouts extending to the ground level. Most sections of the building roofs already have gutters and downspouts, but we have noticed that a small number do not. Before we [PRVWSD] contract for any repair work, all roof sections on all six lake-side buildings must have gutters and downspouts.
The District claims water runoff from the roofs of the units on the reservoir side degraded the riprap. The Breakers strongly disagrees with the District as the Association claims 47 of the units in the six buildings are guttered while twelve were not guttered. The Breakers added gutters and the appropriate downspouts to those units.
The complaint argues:
There is no significant difference in the condition of the riprap beneath the units which are gutterd and the units which are not guttered.
The Breakers posits wave action caused by wind and boat wakes caused the degradation. If the riprap is not repaired, units will suffer foundation damage.
The complaint asks the Court to declare the District is responsible for the cost of maintaining the riprap.
The District asked the Court to dismiss the complaint, charging it was protected by sovereign immunity and the statute of limitations bars all claims by the Breakers. The lease spread on the minutes lacks any specific requirement for the District to maintain the riprap.
The case is assigned to Madison County Circuit Judge Bradley Mills. Attorneys Maison Heidelberg and Sarah Ellis represent the Breakers. Special Assistant Attorney General Lisa Repetto. represents PRVWSD.
50 comments:
Maybe it is the rats? The Breakers is utterly infested with rats!
Mark Beyea got run off from Neel Schaffer. Not a lot of credibility in his engineering opinion. This could get interesting. Heidelberg has handled construction and home/foundation litigation before.
The district should be responsible for the riprap protection required to protect the integrity of the breakwater, and no more. If the district can live with the current level of erosion, and the Breakers is concerned simply because of potential foundation damage, the Breakers should place the riprap themselves. Seems pretty simple.
Maybe it’s high time that the state legislature adequately fund its state agency (PRVWSD) so that it can actually maintain its shoreline. The state has yet to provide PRVWSD with adequate funding. Step up, Legislature. Provide rhe funding to address shoreline maintenance.
A plumber told me years back that pipes liked to freeze up in those outside walls at the Breakers, creating expensive repair costs. So couldn't freeze thaw cycles in the backfill also have affected the riprap?
Hold On! The State is not responsible but The District, a division of The State, is?
Where is "Little General Sigman" when we need him?
His opinion (based on personal experience with him) would be, "The District is not responsible since the plaintiff did not give us a a chance to correct the problem before the damage occurred".
That's the fall back position for any liability assertion leveled at PRVWSD.
If the riprap was covered with galvanized cyclone fencing mesh, wouldn't it withstand adjacent forces that topple the upper stones?
If the district is responsible for sea walls on residential properties why wouldn’t they be responsible for this? Probably should never have put rip rap adjacent and under the buildings in the first place.
Not an issue for 99.999999% of us.
6:45, you are thinking of gabion baskets, which are galvanized wire baskets filled with a smaller gradation of crushed aggregate than riprap. Gabion stone is 3” to 8” in size, whereas riprap is usually 100 to 300 pounds in size. In Mississippi, the aggregate is limestone. Gabion baskets are, in my opinion, ugly as hell, which alone would preclude me from specifying them in a project at the breakers.
Maybe it’s even higher time to figure out where PRV is spending its leasehold money! Did we really need a new building on Northshore Blvd at the cost of over a million? Do we really need a Rez PD? How much is being sunk into the new campground (aka trailer park) on Hwy 43?
9:33pm
What I referenced is a technique to hold the existing riprap in place, not baskets of smaller stones. I first saw it on steep slopes adjacent to highways in Colorado where erosion otherwise brings stones down onto highways. The fencing mesh has also been used on riprap effectively.
@10:15pm........Yup, follow the money. Who wants to bet that there's "government" waste or malfeasance?
Maison is a good lawyer. He will work it to the end.
Can PRVWSD not use some of the money from their Lost Rabbit investment???
Mississippi boaters drive like Mississippi drivers = same, same. They drive too fast and leave a wake and cause erosion on the mud hole known as the Rez.
So, PRVWSD will spend the $75k for new rip rap if The Breakers will install a handful of gutters to units currently without them? This seems like a no-brainer, and the units should have them anyway to keep water away from the foundation.
Hey Shad….
Neither is brain cancer, but we can discuss the issue for those affected.
Neither is brain cancer, but we can discuss the issue for those affected.
this lease has a glaring ambiguity.
it fails to address a basic principle of maintainance.
a fundamental principal of contract law , concerning a critical abiguity in a writing is that the ambiguity is construed AGAINST THE ENTITY WHO DRAFTED THE WRITING.
the prvwsd drafted that lease , and now they got to live with it.
this is just one more example of a totally bungled job by the incompetent people who run the PRVWSD which is the biggest disaster ever created by the mississippi legislature.
the post about the ambiguity in the lease is correct.
this is yet another example why the state of mississippi does not need to be in the land business
.........nor the beef business
......nor the coal business
......or any other of the ridiculous business ventures the legislature gets its self into.
Maybe its time for Shad to take long hard look at the books. Wouldn't hurt for Lynn Fitch to investigate how some developers get to do what they do. There's a few board members living like way beyond their means.
Remember this the next time “One Lake” or “Two Lakes” is floated. Everyone wants the land for “development”. As soon as the money is made the developers disparity fill pockets and the rest of the state is left to pick up the tab.
Yes, we NEED the Rez police more than ever.
Landlords are responsible for essential maintenance of their properties, regardless of any other factors.
If erosion continues to the point where some units collapse into the water, then what?
PRVWSD should fix this. It will save large legal fees over tumbling riprap. OMG
Obviously, PRVWSD is not responsible for painting the Breakers or cleaning the carpet in the buildings, but neither would the district be responsible for an erosion problem that only affects the foundations there and not the integrity of the breaker the Breakers are built on.
the state went into the land business when it created prvwsd
its been a disaster ever since
just like the beef plant
the biofuels plant
the kemper co coal plant
the list goes on and on.
the government is not intended to run businesses . everything they do is a disaster.
Doesn't lessor own the land and rent it out? If so, it seems natural that lessor would have to maintain the land it rents. That is if they have any funds left after building their grand new office campus displacing play area in the park.
I live on leasehold land owned by PRVWSD. My annual leasehold fees keep going up, yet I don’t get anything substantive in return, except for a $5 million plus office building for PRVWSD, excuses on why they can’t remove the dead trees that were cut and are everywhere (it claims it doesn’t have the money), and harassment from them when I have repair work done to my house. I feel certain that if The Breakers had agreed to pay for the rip rap repair, PRVWSD would never have agreed to allow them to do it without being a huge pain in the ass.
PRVWSD owns the land and leases it to them. PRVWSD needs to pay for the rip rap since PRVWSD owns the land.
There are 87 units at the Breakers and they are fighting over who pays for a “repair “ that costs $75,000. That is not very expensive per unit or owner.I wonder how much their lawyers are costing!
NO! The reservoir is not run by the Madison County Board of Supervisors!
Yes, but once the camel's nose gets under the tent...
Dayum ...I thought all was well at the breakers after the Dock closed.
I can't speak about rats at those old condos, but they do have some giant water roaches about six inches long.
The Breakers hold the lease, control the property, and sit on a gated private drive, and nothing in the lease requires PRVWSD to maintain riprap that protects a private condominium community. If the Association expects the public to pay for shoreline repairs, perhaps they should remove the gate and open the property for public access.
Have sellers of units at the Breakers disclosed this potential liability on real estate disclosure forms in the past?
Our government can't complete a debit card transaction without separately charging you the merchant fees.
Lived there briefly back in the day. CHITHO. Thru and thru.
I bet if they Breakers wanted to go ahead and put the rip rap down, PRVWSD would issue that permit quicker than if someone off of Spillway Rd wanted to build a fence or cut a tree. They are a pain to deal with, yet typically don't know what they are talking about. I'd LOVE to see that Shaggy's lease in the boat ramp parking lot....
Most state agencies produce quality work, serve the public well and fulfill their mission objectives. Then along comes the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District.
Other than paying a few nice executive level salaries, I can't think of a damned thing they do that benefits Mississippi or Mississippians. Hell, they don't even sell Catalpa worms!
Welp.....mystery solved!! The lease is filed and publicly recorded, exactly where it’s legally required to be. No secret deals, no fast-tracked favors, just boring old compliance. Anyone who’s interested can find it themselves at https://www2.rankincounty.org/duprocesswebinquiry
....Turns out PRV knows how to do paperwork after all I guess.
@10:15pm As someone familiar with the District and with a kid who was on the police force, and also respectful of the people serving it, a few clarifications will help. The Reservoir Police Department isn’t new, PRVWSD has maintained its own certified law-enforcement presence for decades as part of its responsibility for safety on District roads, waterways, and public areas. The Hwy 43 campground also isn’t a sudden or hidden project, it’s long been part of the Reservoir’s recreation system. Questions about priorities are fair, but they should be grounded in public budgets and board minutes rather than assumptions. Many residents would also welcome the ability to vote for board members as a constructive step toward stronger accountability. IMO
A few rocks are not going to break the breakers.
Funny how the ‘prestigious’ gated Breakers crowd is suddenly screaming for the public (via PRVWSD) to foot the bill for their crumbling riprap and foundation threats, but they’ve been too cheap or lazy for years to install basic gutters, roofs, or maintain their own property. No wonder the place is falling apart—pipes freezing, giant roaches everywhere, and now rats feasting on the neglect. If it’s such a luxury waterfront paradise, why not pony up the $75k yourselves instead of whining about lease ‘ambiguities’ and expecting the rest of us Rez users to subsidize your private view? Open the gates and let the public enjoy it if you want our money!
They got their money by chiseling it away from others. Becoming Wealthy 101.
I've only been there once. Aside from several golden ligustrums remaining from the original plantings, now pruned as trees (if you squint, they look like the streetside lemon trees, in "above Sunset" Beverly Hills), I was struck by how BLEAK the "landscaping" was. Some poor zhlub wearing a mask, was spraying a nasty-smelling green concoction on the grass, and I prayed for him. Surrounded by water, wouldn't The Breakers enjoy a great microclimate?
But instead of being a rare spot in Mississippi, where one could fill every bit of soil, with hardy bamboos, gingers, palms & citrus, and Zone 8b-hardy Ground Orchids, the site seems to be used as little more than an HERBICIDE OPPORTUNITY. Another symptom of the Brain Drain, I suppose: not seeing a giant opportunity, jumping up & down, right in front of them.
(oh, and 5:47, those Rez Breakers folks are not "rich". You're thinking about the Palm Beach Breakers, and The Breakers in Newport)
Audit the PRVWSD and Rez PD. Bureaucrats ran off the Dock. They also ran off Rapids. Both brought entertainment acts, revenue, and interest to the entire metropolitan area that was supposed to be...er, replaced(? I have that right, don't I??).
so, 7:56...an audit the Rez PD ticket books is needed perhaps?
Correct 8:28. AI data centers are the next boondoggle for the state's citizens. We have cheap energy for NOW...not so much once the data centers fire up. Mark my words.
@5:39, You do know that there are hundreds (thousands?) of private homes on both the Rankin and Madison shores of the Rez, yes? I DARE you to take your tent and fishing pole and try to "public access" any of those homesites. Bring a kite and pic-a-nic basket too, Yogi. Let us know how that goes.
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