‘Very frustrated’: 83-year-old homeowner asking for answers, help with overgrown property

COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. (WWBT) - A Colonial Heights homeowner reached out to 12 On Your Side concerned about overgrown property behind her home. Barbara Pearce hopes to at least speak with someone about what could be done to maintain the eight acres of brush now pushing onto her fence.

”I think it is pushing on my fence. The thicker it gets, the more pressure on my fence. I don’t know what’s under there, could be snakes,” said Pearce.

For 36 years, she has lived in the same home in Colonial Heights but has noticed what appears to be brush, grass and trees continue to grow. For years, she said, the land was owned by and maintained by the City of Colonial Heights.

“I called about it,” she said.

Pearce was informed the city had sold the land in 2007 to Kalyan Hospitality LLC. Records sent to NBC12 by the City of Colonial Heights show eight acres of land were purchased. Learning a name, Pearce reached out to the company for help back in April.

“I got a hold of the operator at the company. I told her the story. She said she would talk to someone and get back to me,” Pearce explained. “Well, I never heard anything. So, a few weeks later, I said, ‘I will try again.’ I went through the whole thing again. She said, ‘we are not responsible for that,’ and she hung up on me.”

The On Your Side Investigators sent two e-mails to Kalyan Hospitality, but both have gone unanswered. Calling twice led to the owner’s mailbox being full and an automated recording playing each time - you press a number to be connected to an operator.

Pearce is hoping someone will see her story and respond to her calls. She says she doesn’t want several more years to go by with no maintenance of the area.

“[I am] very frustrated. I don’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to do when I called Channel 12. It was my last resort. Someone said call the city manager, and I said if it doesn’t belong to the city, why would that work?” she said. ”I just want up to my fence [line] a certain distance, cleared off.”

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