MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Deborah Kidd said part of the reason her and her husband bought their property in Baldwin County was because of the pond. Now, it looks nothing like it did before and is hurting their and their neighbor's property.
"The grandkids come and they like to fish and catch some brim and all that, but we've just had so much junk washing in here," Kidd said.
In the last year, the pond has filled up with mud and is overflowing onto her property thanks to her former neighbor.
"The Old Classic Motor, all the cement from it is over there. It was dumped, he dumped cement. He let people dump cement everywhere," Kidd said.
The cement crushed a pipe that runs under the road between the two properties and allowed mud to rush in. When Kidd had the county evaluate it, they said the extra mud had significantly changed the volume of her pond.
"And because we lost the volume in our pond, our pond has flooded three times in our neighbor's garage, so it's destroying other people's property, not just ours," Kidd said.
County manager Carlos Tobar said they plan on fixing the pipe itself. They also cut back a lot of the brush and debris on the side of the road, but he said the overgrowth near the pipe on Kidd's property may be her responsibility.
"If it's on private property, then she's responsible for maintaining the slope of that dam -- that's not our responsibility," Tobar said. "We're responsible for maintaining our right-of-way. We're going to make sure we take care of our right-of-way."
Kidd says she's heard conflicting stories about what will be done, including the county matting the neighbors' slope. She said if the problem is fixed on one end, it should be fixed on hers as well, and the county should better monitor their pipes.
"Enough's enough. It's damaging our pond, it's damaging other people's property. It's the road department that hasn't maintained the pipes. They haven't maintained the ditches or the pipes on this road," Kidd said.
Kidd said she hopes the county will clear that brush around the pipe in her pond. She says if not, she may take legal action.
The county said they are still evaluating the situation and will make a decision about what to do about each property.