William T. Wingfield, a developer with offices in Virginia Beach, said steps were taken to alert buyers of lots in a Deep Creek subdivision that the site was formerly used as a landfill. Steve Earley/ The Virginian-Pilot

Background: Subdivision homes built atop illegal dump

CHESAPEAKE — The developer of the Wingfield Pointe subdivision said Thursday he was never contacted by anyone at City Hall regarding “buyer’s awareness packages” that the city’s Planning Commission ordered to be given to potential lot buyers.

“Not a word,” said William T. Wingfield, who from the late 1980s through the 1990s developed a 68-lot subdivision in a section of Deep Creek that years ago contained a Norfolk County landfill. “They never called me or anything.”

However, Wingfield said he did alert the initial buyers that some of the property contained “fill soil.”

On Jan. 11, contractors digging a hole in the back yard of Steven Miller, a Wingfield Pointe resident, found 20 to 30 barrels of chemicals, prompting an investigation by federal, state and local environmental officials that is ongoing.

Last week, City Attorney Ronald Hallman said that an enforcement mechanism was in place to make sure that Wingfield followed through on the city’s requirement that he warn buyers about the history of the site.

But Wingfield said Thursday he had never heard from anyone in City Hall about the how the notification issue should be handled. Hallman could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

At a meeting with Wingfield Pointe residents on Wednesday night, representatives of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Quality said further testing of the contents of the barrels was planned, but the consensus was that there was no immediate health hazard.

Miller and many other residents concerned about the value of their homes have said they were dumbfounded to learn their homes sit near – or in some cases on top of – what used to be a dump and a hog farm.

On Thursday, Wingfield talked at length with The Virginian-Pilot in an effort to show that steps were taken to alert potential lot buyers about “fill soil” on some of the property. The Virginia Beach developer said that although he was never instructed to do so by the city, he included a provision in the contracts used for the purchase of all 68 lots in Wingfield Pointe alerting purchasers to possible soil problems on some lots.

He interpreted the notification requirement to apply only to the initial purchaser of a lot, Wingfield said.

Wingfield said he himself bought about 10 of the lots and resold them. He acknowledged he did not feel obligated to tell those buyers that some of the development property had once been a landfill.

The City Planning Commission, as a condition of approving the subdivision in May 1988, stipulated that “A Buyer’s Awareness Package shall be provided to each purchaser indicating that a portion of the site has been used as a dump site, specifically locating the lots which may contain fill.”

Wingfield said he believes he addressed the notification requirement by including the following provision in each lot buyer’s contract: “The buyer(s) hereto acknowledge that they are aware that some of the lots in Wingfield Pointe subdivision may be on fill land or may have received substantial fill soil and top soil to satisfy drainage grade standards imposed by the city of Chesapeake, Virginia.

“Some of these lots may require special foundations or pilings. The buyer(s) agree to indemnify and hold the sellers harmless for any claim, liability or responsibility whatsover associated with soil or sub soil conditions of any lots in Wingfield Pointe subdivision.”

Wingfield said Thursday that this part of the 68 contracts signed by lot purchasers should have made it clear to buyers that there were some environmental issues on the property.

The use of the word “package” in the Planning Commission’s stipulation may have been a poor choice of terms and led to a false expectation, he said.

“They expected to get a brown paper package with 'buyer’s awareness package’ on it,” Wingfield said.

He said he has looked through city records and found that references to “fill land” and “land fill” are used interchangeably.

“They used it both ways,” he said.

He added that Hallman told him the identification of the “limit of previous landfill site” on the subdivision plat satisfied the city’s notification stipulation for lot buyers.

The developer said borings as deep as 22 feet were conducted on any lot in the development that bordered on or overlapped with the former landfill site – roughly 30 lots.

If the results showed possibly unstable soil, as was the case with about 20 of the tested lots, Wingfield said he required the installation of “grade-beam foundations” – essentially large numbers of reinforcement rods designed by an engineer – to support homes on those lots.

“How much can a guy do?” Wingfield asked.

In many cases, Wingfield said he helped pay for the required foundations, cutting as much as $6,500 off the final sale price of some lots.

“What you’re trying to do is avoid a structural failure,” Wingfield said. “Because the land is fill land, it’s not as stable as virgin land.”

While clearing the subdivision site, Wingfield said his contractors hauled away some barrels from the surface, with the knowledge of a state environmental official, and took them to a licensed landfill.

He added that his crews never buried anything on the property.

The developer, who turns 63 next month and has been building homes in South Hampton Roads for 40 years, said he believes he went beyond what the city asked of him, notifying purchasers way before closing on a deal.

“It wasn’t one of those things we snuck through the closing,” he said, referencing the piles of forms people are typically asked to sign when buying property – unaware of what they’re signing.

Reach Robert McCabe at 222-5217 or Robert.McCabe@pilotonline.com.