14 MAY 3, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Huge trees damaging the foundation of a Ridgewood home
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Standing in the garden in front of
her home on Willoughby Avenue
in Ridgewood, Alice Mackenzie is
surrounded by a variety of plants so
expansive that there is no room in the
ground for more. Yet, dozens more are
growing from pots around the garden
and on the covered patio behind the
house.
Mackenzie is a self-professed lover
of plants, but standing tall behind her
are three huge trees that could be
slowly crumbling the foundation of
her home.
According to a study performed
by Robert Wolfson of RW Technical
Engineering Services in 2017 — whom
Mackenzie hired to fi gure out why so
much moisture was getting into her
home — the three trees and their root
structures need to be removed.
Standing at an estimated 75 feet
tall, two of the trees are less than fi ve
feet away from the foundation wall of
the house and “are causing damage
to the integrity of both the building’s
foundation walls as well as that of the
retaining wall behind the property,”
the report shows.
It’s the fi rst home Mackenzie has ever
owned, she said, and she fears that if
nothing is done with the problem trees
she will have to move out.
“I love this house, and I want to live
here for the rest of my life,” Mackenzie
said. “I’m pretty invested … Cleaning it
up from the mess it was in is defi nitely
part of my bonding experience.”
The home had been foreclosed
when she fi rst purchased it in 2011, so
Mackenzie knew it was a fi xer-upper
from the start, she said. Over the next
several years she invested a signifi cant
amount of time and money into ridding
the place of mold, tearing up layers of
old linoleum fl ooring, repairing the
roof and completely renovating the
basement.
But the basement proved to be the
fi rst indicator that there was a larger
problem with the property as the
moisture and mold returned. Along
the baseboard on the wall there was
obvious water damage and cracks, and
heavy rain oft en caused the basement
to fl ood.
Wolfson’s report refers to a mold
inspection performed at the home
in 2016 by Olmsted Environmental
Services that shows elevated levels
of mold spores in the air in the basement
and on the wall behind the baseboard,
and points to “water intrusion
through the foundation wall” as the
cause.
Mackenzie also noticed cracks along
the concrete wall on the outside of the
house next to the trees, as well as in
the concrete fl oor of the back patio. She
had the wall patched up with new layers
of concrete several times, she said,
and the cracks continue to reappear.
When the Ridgewood Times visited
the property on May 1, small cracks
were indeed visible on the side of the
house, and on the ground below them
was a large, protruding tree root that
disappeared underground just inches
from the wall. Mackenzie also pointed
out that the concrete retaining wall behind
the home showed obvious contortion
and cracking, and the third tree
in question is a few feet away from it.
Despite the mounting evidence
and Wolfson’s report to back up
Mackenzie’s claims, the problem with
removing the trees is that they are on
city property. Though they are so close
to Mackenzie’s house, the trees are actually
enclosed by a chain-link fence
that borders the newly reconstructed
Grover Cleveland Athletic Field.
Mackenize watched the construction
of the fi eld from the vantage point
of her rooft op, and with consultation
from her lawyer she decided to contact
the School Construction Authority
(SCA) about the removal of the trees
and compensation for the damage
from them. The agency responded
quickly and sent project offi cer Octav
Botez to investigate the problem. Botez
submitted his report to the agency’s
insurance representatives.
“The insurance agent rejected the
claim,” Mackenzie said. “He didn’t
even come to the house. He didn’t
even look at it. He just said, ‘We’re not
responsible.'”
When reached over the phone on
May 2, Botez told the Ridgewood Times
that he agreed the trees seemed like
they could be causing the damage
from what he saw during his visit with
Mackenzie, but since the SCA didn’t do
anything to cause the damage, that is
probably why the insurance claim was
denied. Botez added that the Department
of Education owns the property,
and Mackenzie should file a claim
there, too.
Still, the land between the athletic
fi eld and Mackenzie’s home visibly
slopes toward the home, and Wolfson’s
report references an SCA document
from the reconstruction of the fi eld
that shows the gradient of the land
and that its drainage water would fl ow
toward the home.
Going forward, Mackenzie plans to
write to the SCA again and continue
trying to fi gure out a solution so that
her investment doesn’t go to waste.
While the drainage problem is part of
the issue, Mackenzie knows she won’t
be able to do anything about that. She’s
focusing on dealing with the largest of
the plants surrounding her home.
“If I can’t get the trees repaired, I’ll
have to leave, and I probably won’t be
able to sell it for much, right?” Mackenzie
said.v
Photo by Ryan Kelley/Ridgewood Times
Alice Mackenzie stands on her back porch looking at the bowed concrete
wall behind it on May 1.
Scholarship winners
honored at Christ the
King in Middle Village
Photo courtesy of Christ the King High School
Christ the King High School
hosted a dinner for scholarship
winning members of its
incoming freshman class on Friday
night, April 27, in Middle Village.
Scholarships were also given out in
honor of several notable and infl uential
people who have been affi liated
with the Christ the King community,
such as beloved math teacher Richard
Hartman, former vice chairman
of the school’s Board of Trustees
Bernard G. Helldorfer and former
City Councilman and Christ the King
Chairman Thomas Ognibene.
Among the scholarship presenters
were Serphin Maltese,
chairman of the Christ the King
Board of Trustees; Christ the King
Principal Geri Martinez; and former
Christ the King Principal Peter
Mannarino.
The scholarship winners are
(in alphabetical order) Meghan
Bernardy, Heather Bonilla, Danna
Cabrerea, Nicholas Celis, Joseph
D’Antoni, Samantha Fernandes,
Omar Figueroa, Sylwia Filonik,
Sofi a Genao, Milna Haripersaud,
Hanna Kurdziel, Kristen McQuaid,
Tiff any Muckian, Sheina Peralta,
Adolfo Pessagno, Samantha Pizzulli,
Charlie Sconiers, Joseph Siguencia
and Cecilia Taravella.
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