Weddington Council Tables Toll Brothers Bond Release After Homeowners Raise Safety and Park Concerns

Weddington’s Town Council on Oct. 13 postponed action on a developer’s request to release a performance bond covering infrastructure in the Enclave at Baxley subdivision after multiple homeowners described unresolved safety, drainage and common-area problems.

The bond, which staff described as “not small” and covering roads, sidewalks and a large detention pond, was the focus of evening public comment from residents who asked the council to withhold release until certain concerns were fixed and verified. Greg (town staff) told the council that “the money that this is bonded for is for basically the roads, the sidewalk, the curb and their large detention pond,” and that the roads had been turned over to the state while the pond remained the town’s primary concern.

Enclave HOA president Fred Leaf Frank told the council the community had outstanding items he believed should prevent the bond release: visible cracks in the retention pond embankment, a park with holes and bare patches that he described as a safety hazard for children, irrigation valves left running on battery power that produced unexpectedly high water bills, dead trees in conservation areas and roadway dips that hold water. “We’re not here in complete opposition to Toll Brothers,” Fred said, “but we feel that that bond should not be released because of the pending issues we have in our community.”

Several other residents described similar problems. One said they had paid premiums for lots facing the pond and now felt the common areas were “unusable,” and another urged the council to require an engineering review of cracked embankment areas before money is released.

Town staff said they had inspected the site with Labella Associates and that Labella provided a letter stating the bonded infrastructure was installed and functioning. Labella’s senior engineer, Bob Wilson, told the council he would re-examine residents’ claims about cracks in the pond embankment: “I can certainly investigate that. That was not something that was evident to us during the inspection,” he said, and offered to follow up if further work was needed.

Toll Brothers representative Robert Price said the company wants to be “a good neighbor” and that it had undertaken repairs prior to the inspection; he noted the developer had obtained third-party certifications and that the company believed the infrastructure met standards.

Council members and staff agreed that, because recent grading and seeding around the pond had occurred only weeks earlier, additional time was reasonable to confirm fixes are holding. They also asked staff to request a follow-up visit from the N.C. Department of Transportation to re-check streets the DOT had accepted. A council member moved to table the bond-release decision until the next meeting; the motion passed unanimously.

What’s next: The council tabled the request to release the performance bond and asked staff and their engineering consultant to (1) inspect the embankment cracks identified by homeowners, (2) request a DOT reinspection of streets that homeowners say pond or have low spots, and (3) report back at next month’s council meeting.

This discussion touched on what bond coverage does—and does not—address: staff said the bond covers public infrastructure (roadways, sidewalks, drainage/detention) while private home-warranty issues and common-area maintenance obligations fall to the developer, HOA or property owners depending on the governing documents.