Residents say town lines make neighborhood ‘black hole’ for services

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Residents in a Brunswick County neighborhood say they live in a “black hole.”

Woodridge, off of Eastwood Lane in Olde Towne, has had flooding issues for years. Residents say they’re having trouble finding help because the neighborhood sits in three different jurisdictions.

Nancy Moore says Woodridge has had flooding problems since it was built more than 15 years ago, but she says the biggest issue is trying to figure out who to call for help.

“The front yard is Belville, the backyard is Leland and the side easement is Brunswick County,” Moore said.

She says when she does call, she just gets passed around.

“Belville throws it off to Leland. Leland outright says that brunswick county takes care of it,” she said.

Moore’s neighbor Jo Rosati says they finally got a Brunswick County engineer to come out a couple of weeks ago.

“She said they’re going to look at the maps and find the exact kind of map they’re looking for and go from there. That’s all she said,” Rosati said.

Moore said, “I’m not going to hold my breath. It’s been 15 years.”

Moore says she’s also had issues getting law enforcement to come out to the area.

“Sometimes it doesn’t happen,” she said. “It could be 35, 40 (minutes). When those houses were broken into it was an hour. It was two days later before I talked to a detective.”

That’s why Moore calls the neighborhood a “black hole.”

“We’re stuck in between zones of who responds to this area,” Moore said.

Belville Commissioner Joe Breault told us the development was not supposed to be built because the land was flat, and they knew there was no where for the water to go.

For now Moore says she’s been pumping the water out herself, but she can’t do it forever.

“By myself. I can’t, ’cause I’m basically maintaining it for eight other people,” she said.

Breault says Belville and H2Go are working on the problem, but it is a difficult issue because of zoning and private property issues.