By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ryland Homes is offering to buy back homes in the Lexington Manor subdivision in Liberty Township because of lead contamination. (Enquirer file photo)

LIBERTY TWP. - In a rare and expensive move, one of the largest homebuilders in the nation is offering to buy back most of the homes in a lead-contaminated Butler County subdivision.

Ryland Homes made the offer in a recent letter sent to all residents of Lexington Manor. Most of the homeowners sued Ryland and others earlier this year after hazardous lead levels were discovered in some yards. The subdivision was recently declared a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site.

Ryland Homes also is offering $15,000 for additional expenses and $10,000 off the cost of another Ryland home, should the families choose to purchase one, according to the letter signed by John K. Adams, division president.

Besides hazardous lead levels, an extraordinarily high level of arsenic has been detected in lead shot found in one neighbor's back yard, according to the U.S. EPA.

A massive cleanup of the subdivision, which was built over a former skeet-shooting range, is expected to begin this summer.

"Recently as a result of the increased time of remediation associated with the U.S. EPA process, Ryland reached a decision to offer you the option of having Ryland repurchase your home for the original purchase price," states the letter, adding later: "Knowing the length and uncertainty that might accompany the remediation activity by the U.S. EPA, we felt it our responsibility to provide this offer to our homeowners."

WHAT HAPPENED:

Lexington Manor residents contacted the Ohio EPA late last year after high lead levels were found in a yard. Ryland paid for soil testing to determine the extent of the contamination. More high lead levels were detected in yards. In April, the Ohio EPA asked the federal arm of the agency to take the lead on the investigation. The U.S. EPA declared the 25-acre subdivision a Superfund site. The agency will oversee the cleanup and is holding two parties responsible: Ryland Homes and the subdivision's developer, Lexington Manor, Inc. Both parties are expected to sign a federal consent decree soon on the cleanup and to formulate a cleanup plan and work schedule the EPA will approve.

If Ryland were to purchase back all 28 homes now occupied out of the 46 lots in the subdivision and pay other costs, the company's loss could hit about $15 million.

Homes in Lexington Manor range from $190,000 to $330,000.

The homeowners who sued have said they were not told of the lead.

Ryland has said it was not obligated to inform residents of the lead when they bought their homes because it had been assured the land was safe.

The lead-tainted soil was rototilled in 2001 with clean soil to reduce the high lead levels, and then treated with lime and buried.

Chris Finney, a Hyde Park attorney representing 19 other families who sued Ryland and others, declined comment Thursday. He and his clients, he said, have entered into a confidentiality agreement with Ryland to keep settlement discussions private.

But Robert Croskery, a Mason attorney representing Ed and Robin Lumbert - the first Lexington Manor family to sue Ryland - called the buyback offer a "promising start." He did say, however, that the Lumberts should receive more than $15,000 for expenses.

"Ryland is now finally starting to come around for what they should have accepted responsibility for since the beginning," Croskery said Thursday. "But (the Lumberts) shouldn't be out of pocket for anything. They should be in the same financial position they were to begin with before they bought their home. That's what this has always been about."

Ryland spokeswoman Anne Madison declined Thursday to say if Ryland would give residents more money for expenses or to elaborate on why the buyback offer was being made now.

"Any discussions we have with the homeowners will remain with the homeowners," she said, stressing that the company has been and remains "committed to operating in the best interest of our homeowners."

Other homebuilders applauded the plan Thursday.

But Tristate homebuilders maintain it's virtually unheard of - at least in Greater Cincinnati.

"I would imagine they would hope to remediate (the lead) and then resell (the homes)," said Terry Sievers, Midwest region president of The Drees Co., in Fort Mitchell and past president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati. "But there still will be some big losses in there."

If Ryland pays the Lumberts what they want and buys back their home, her family will drop the suit, Robin Lumbert said Thursday.

"I didn't bargain for this kind of mess," said the 35-year-old mother who has three small children she won't let play outside for fear they will be contaminated.

"I thought I was buying a house we were going to live in for the rest of our lives," she said. "When we signed the agreement to build our dream home, I didn't realize we were going to be living a nightmare."

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com