RICHMOND—Last year, run-off from construction on the Richmond Regional Sports Complex on Goggins Lane began flooding a property in the neighboring Covington Woods subdivision with silt whenever it rained.

“It was really scary, that much water coming in and it wasn’t stopping,” Angie Hatterick, who owns the property with her husband, said in an exclusive interview with The Edge. “It’s really loud coming down off of that hill. It sounds like a waterfall.”

The Hattericks bought their house in 2013. They never had any flooding issues, she said, until May 2025, several months after construction on the $67 million sports complex, a project riddled with change orders and delays, began.

The Hattericks supported the 280-acre sports complex when it broke ground in 2024. "We liked the idea of a walking trail and a gazebo setup where you could sit with your family or have a family reunion," she said.

Now that the flooding has become such an issue, Hatterick said she and her husband are worried it will decrease their property's market value.

"All that mud and silt that has come off of that hill and settled in our backyard, it's raised the back of our yard up so then when it floods, on top of adding all that to the ground, the water rushes over that silt and rushes towards our house too," Hatterick said. 

Newby offered help

When the flooding began, the Hattericks contacted City Commissioner Jim Newby. He arranged for representatives from the Allen Company, the Lexington-based heavy construction contractor responsible for grading the sports complex, and from Bell Engineering, another Lexington-based contractor on the project, to assess the situation.

"[The Allen Company representative] was great. Apologetic—'So sorry you're having to deal with this. This shouldn't be an issue for you all and we hate that this is happening, yes we're going to fix this,'" Hatterick said, describing the encounter with the Allen Company representatives.

She said they replaced the Hattericks' pool pump and electrical socket and reseeded the yard at no cost to the family. 

The Allen Company employee also promised the Hattericks that the flooding would not happen again.

But that has not been the case.

Persistent problem

The Hattericks' yard flooded again this June during the City's state of emergency due to flash floods. "It was all the way up to the house," Hatterick said. She contacted the Allen Company again, but received no response, she said.

“When somebody from a respectable business like the Allen Company and Bell Engineering tells you that they’re going to fix the problem and they’re apologizing and already paying for things that they know are destroyed because of what they’re doing back here, you trust their word for it,” Hatterick said.

After they got no response the second time around, the Hattericks replaced their $300 pool pump themselves, but decided not to reseed the yard unless the flooding and erosion stops, Hatterick said.

Then the Hattericks' backyard flooded again earlier this week.

“Now my husband and I, we have to speak out and say enough is enough. It's not okay to do your community like this,” Hatterick said. She began posting photos of her flooded property on social media and spoke with a reporter.

She also emailed several City Commissioners as well as County Judge Executive Reagan Taylor and City Manager Rob Minerich. She did not bother to contact the Allen Company this time, she said.

Minerich each assured Hatterick that Bell Engineering and the Allen Company would reach out to her but she still has not heard from them, she said.

The Edge attempted to reach the Allen Company and Bell Engineering for this story, but was unable to contact anyone in time for publication. In an attempt to report an expert assessment on the potential causes of the flooding, The Edge spoke with multiple engineers not affiliated with the project, but none would go on the record.

From cattle to battle

Prior to construction, cattle grazed on the hill, Hatterick said. Now, the only view of the sports complex from the Hatterick home is a rocky mountain of dirt.

“Once they got rid of all that grassland and they plowed through it and it's all mud and dirt. They continue to build that up. The water has no place to go but straight down,” Hatterick said, adding that she thinks the hill of dirt is about 20 feet higher than before.

Other houses along Palm Hill Drive have also been affected, Hattrick said, noting that her neighbor’s house flooded during the heavy rains in June. Houses along Goggins Lane also flooded at that time. Residents of the area claimed the flood damage was caused by the sports complex construction, but City Manager Rob Minerich was reported saying the floods were solely due to the abnormal amounts of rain.

Yet, the Hattericks’ backyard floods even if the rain is not heavy. On October 15, Richmond received a total of 0.33 inches of rain, according to national weather data. But Hatterick said the water in her back yard was so high that day, it nearly covered the pool pump's electrical socket again.

“It truly disrupts our life," Hatterick said of the persistent flooding. "We have to worry about, 'Okay, do we have everything up out of the yard? We can’t let the animals out in the backyard now because they're going to carry mud all the way through the house.' And we don’t want our kids back there because we don’t know what all that [silt] is.”

'Is it going to get fixed?'

When contacted for this story, Minerich told The Edge in a text the City is aware of the issue residents of Covington Woods are facing, and plans to help resolve it.

“We will visit these individuals next week to assess the damage and will make sure each address is made whole or reimbursed for any damages,” Minerich wrote.

He added that there are plans to build a detention pond to divert water directly to a stormwater system. "We are also committed to getting the detention pond installed to avoid this happening in the future,” Minerich wrote in the text.

Hatterick told The Edge that Minerich has since called her to apologize for the inconvenience.

“I asked him, have you seen the monstrous mountain of dirt that is built back behind my house? Have you actually come out here and seen this?” Hatterick said. Minerich told her the City has no excuse for what has happened, she said. “They know that it’s wrong, but is it going to get fixed?"

She added she does not think the City has been exercising enough oversight of the contractors.

“I want people to see what is happening because of the poor planning that has been done,” Hatterick said. "They’re not keeping up with what’s happening.” 

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This story has been updated.