Homeowner adjacent to access easement claims HOA is responsible for her drainage problems

We have an access easement that runs between two streets of our HOA to allow people to walk between two areas. The easement is at the edge of the Atkins (fake name) property. The Bakers (also fake) are the adjacent homeowners.

The path is on a hill and water collects on it in the rain. We are looking at how to address that.

Mrs. Baker also has a water problem on her property, also due to the fact that the surrounding grading is downhill into her property. She is claiming that it is the HOA's responsibility to correct the water drainage onto her property since the water crosses over the easement to reach her property, and we are responsible for maintaining the easement. Our position is that the water does not originate on the easement so we have no responsibility for her property. Our only responsibility is to keep the path passable, which might be done without solving the larger drainage problem.

Do you have an opinion on who is correct here?

The problem was most likely created by the builder in the way they graded the area back in 1995. We cannot compel adjacent homeowners on the uphill side to do anything on their property to redirect drainage; they are compliant with county code. We are looking at a catch-box on the path to drain off water that collects there, and have had five proposals to it different ways, but the adjacent homeowners seem to find problems in any of these solutions yet do not offer their own alternatives. A frustrating situation that has gone on for a couple of years.

Complex water issues are complex - even simple water issues are anger inducing on those that get the water.

However, one owner's property has always been lower than the other. Unless the HOA itself modified the lay of the land at some point, the downhill owner needs to act to address the water issue.

Without a plat and topography, not sure we can tell - however, again, perhaps a swale would port the water a bit differently? But, when the HOA does this, it then becomes a part of any future issue - as well as defect accepting responsibility for the current situation.

The HOA has not changed anything. The ironic thing is if this easement had never been designated in the first place, the situation would be no different for Mrs. Baker and the HOA would be clearly off the hook. The easement was added by the builder in response to homeowner input that homeowners on one side had no practical way to reach a large common area on the other side by foot, and they complained about paying maintenance on a common area they could not reasonably access. There is no improvement on the easement; the only change was to designate it as a public access easement with the county.

I've attached an image of what the layout looks like. The red arrows point downhill to show the area of the grade. I do not have any photos handy.

Mrs. Baker is saying that the HOA should arrest the flow of water across the middle leg of the path, thereby preventing water flow onto her property.

I would get some professional, engineering input on the situation before HOA intentionally or unintentionally takes responsibility for doing anything in regard to this area of land. It's hard to picture the situation and I can't access the image to better understand. Unfortunately I think professional input should have been obtained initially when the issue was first mentioned by the impacted homeowner and not after 2+ years of discussion, debate, and consideration of HOA-funded solutions to the problem.

My unprofessional opinion . . . If the easement is only an access/pedestrian easement, then I would think that the landowner (who I gather is not the HOA) is the one ultimately responsible for maintenance of the land upon which the easement exists. Further, I would think that purchase of the property initially equates to acceptance of conditions as they existed at the time of purchase (otherwise changes should have been demanded at that time). Back in 1995, whoever owned the land had opportunity to fight establishment of the easement as well as the grading and other conditions that existed at that time.

I would want one he!! of a lot more proof then what one person things as per is easement causing the flooding. My initial blush is she is looking for someone else to assume responsibility.

Interesting article on this topic (from Virginia attorney):

Rain, Rain, Go Away: Drainage Problems in the HOA