Marina homeowners found defects in brand-new homes, and took on the bureaucracy.

When Evy Smith first moved into her brand-new home in September 2016 in The Dunes – a development in Marina where single-family homes are still sprouting up – she noticed she had to wait a few minutes for hot water to come out of the tap.

“I was incredulous,” Smith says.

So began a two-year-long process that only now appears to be resolving. Smith first asked a customer service rep with the project developer, Shea Homes, why the hot water took so long, and says she was told that Marina Coast Water District was somehow responsible.

As she has since learned, Marina Coast already had an ordinance in place that required new homes to be built with hot water recirculation systems – her home was not – in order to conserve water.

She then started hearing similar complaints from other homeowners, and estimates about 123 homes were affected, most of which, if not all, were completed before September 2016. That’s because Marina Coast had become aware of the problem, if not the extent, and instructed Shea Homes to ensure all homes going forward had functioning systems.

Evy Smith and other affected homeowners didn’t find anyone willing to make their homes code-compliant; as is, she says, her home is defective.

As months went by and nothing changed, homeowners decided to start making noise. In July, they sent letters to Marina Coast as well as Shea’s president, then on Aug. 6, to Shea’s customer service department.

Shea’s response was that it would hope to resolve the matter in “the next couple weeks,” while also stating it’s not a Marina building code requirement.

On Aug. 8, Smith expressed her frustration to Marina City Council, asking why city inspectors signed off on her home. City Manager Layne Long, in response, said it’s not a city ordinance, so Marina doesn’t enforce it, and encouraged Smith to take the issue to Marina Coast.

But Marina Coast officials don’t do walk-through inspections of homes under construction, so district officials would have no way of knowing the proper pipes – in this case, a recirculation loop – weren’t in place.

Marina Coast Water District General Manager Keith Van Der Maaten says he has met with city officials to ensure the ordinance is enforced by city inspectors going forward, and that the district has come up with a work-around solution, called a jumper, that wouldn’t require ripping out floors and walls.

“This is a jerry-rigged solution,” Smith says, “but at this point, if we can get a solution, I’m happy.”