GROVE CITY, Ohio (WCMH) -- NBC4 Investigates has been hearing from residents in one central Ohio housing development who paid a premium for privacy. Now, they say that privacy is gone, and so is their money
The families picked their homes in the Beulah Park Grove City development because they wanted more privacy. They paid thousands of dollars extra for lots that had conservation land behind them, expecting privacy, but just months later, that's changed.
“We were moving from a one-acre lot in the country to moving here in the suburbs, which we're not really accustomed to, so we wanted to pick a lot that would offer a lot of privacy,” homeowner Chelsey Burris said.
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Burris and Ashley and Emma Lockwood are neighbors. Each paid a lot premium to Pulte Homes of Ohio to live in front of land that Pulte labeled as a conservation area.
“The lot across the street with the neighbors behind us, was $5,000 for the lot price and this lot price was $20,000 to be on the conservation area, but there's no difference in land size between the two,” Burris said.
For them, the price tag was worth the privacy they thought came with it.
”It honestly just looked like our own personal park,” Burris said.
But that did not last for long.
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“I was kind of furious because I was like, we picked it specifically for privacy,” Ashley Lockwood said.
Grove City leaders said that there were always plans for a bike path in the conservation land. In fact, there was one before the homes were built, which can be seen in images from Google Earth.
“I was like, ‘Bike path? Like, what bike path?’ and that was the first time that I'd heard about it, and Grove City has really been the one who's communicated with me about it. I hadn't heard anything from Pulte about the bike path,” Burris said.
In a statement, a Pulte spokesperson said: “The bike path installed behind Beulah Park homesites was planned and approved by Grove City after all homes were sold and closed. We understand the homeowners' concerns and encourage them to direct questions about this bike path to the municipality.”
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Burris and the Lockwoods closed on their homes in April of this year.
City documents show the conservation land, owned by the area developer, was gifted to Grove City for the bike path in April of 2024, one year earlier.
“Just say it, own up to it,” Ashley Lockwood said. “I mean, we already bought the house. We're already here.”
The home contract states that the “Seller makes no representation or guarantee of the current or future value of Buyer's lot. Further development of the community or surrounding property, whether made by Seller, the developer or any other owner, may affect the lot’s value and Buyer’s use and enjoyment of the lot.”
These neighbors are frustrated and want to know why they were not told about the plans from the beginning.
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“All of my neighbors that I've talked to down the street are very unhappy about the situation with Pulte,” Burris said. “I would like to see all of us get our lot premium difference back.”
NBC4 Investigates spoke with the Grove City councilmember who is spearheading the bike path and conservation land development project behind these homes. He has heard the neighbors' concerns and plans to install a line of trees to give the homeowners some of that privacy back.
Again, that is Grove City, not Pulte, putting in the trees. So if you are buying a home and paying extra for something, make sure what you pay for is under the control of the company doing the sale.
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