Woman blames heart attack on Falcon Ridge condo woes

HAMBURG-Can stress make you ill? Julia Melchionda, who's been waiting for more than a year to move into her new home at Falcon Ridge, is convinced it can. "I ended up with a heart attack and open heart surgery this year," said Melchionda, and blames her illness on her present situation. After signing a contract last February to purchase a first-floor, two-bedroom unit, Melchionda sold her house and was told she would be in her home "in little while." But the Falcon Ridge developers and the borough have been unable to agree on solutions to drainage problems associated with the project. As a result, many completed and sold units remain unoccupied while the town refuses to grant certificates of occupancy until the drainage is fixed. The developers say they've complied with all requirements, and the two sides are at a stalemate. Meanwhile, people who bought units are waiting to get in. Melchionda is one of them. She initially stayed with a friend and paid rent, but had to leave because there were too many stairs to negotiate in the wake of her heart troubles. She is now staying with another friend and is paying storage fees in addition to rent. But she still has to negotiate stairs, she said. Melchionda was offered the opportunity to back out of her contract at Falcon Ridge and was told she would receive her entire down payment back. Unfortunately, she says that since her home sold and the price of the condo she can't move into has increased by $25,000, she has little choice but to continue waiting. To back out now would be to give up the equity she's built up. "I don't understand why the town doesn't straighten it out," she said. Her contact has been Nick Gisondi, a sales representative for Community Marketing, the sales agent for Silver Fox, the developer. She said that Gisondi told her that the hold-up is because of the Board of Education, whose property is affected by run-off from the development. "There was drainage, and all of a sudden they decided to build a ballfield and the hole was closed for drainage," she said of the board of education. "Every time we go up there, it's the same story he tells us. In the meantime, they keep selling these and making everybody wait." Gisondi said, "The developer wants nothing more than to close on every unit in Falcon Ridge and is working diligently towards that end. Anyone who doesn't want to wait can get 100 percent of their deposit monies back. All they need do is request it." Representatives for Falcon Ridge attended a planning board meeting last December and presented a plan that the board of education would be asked to consider. At that time, the council said that it did not have jurisdiction to accept a plan that involved the board's property, and Silver Fox should meet with the board of education. School Superintendent Bob McCann said that the board does not favor of the options presented, one of which involved digging a drainage ditch across the ballfield to empty into a shallow ditch which, the board feels, would impact residents downstream. "The best scenario is to improve the basin that is already on their property," said McCann. "From the board's point of view, they should work on their side of the property without impacting our property." Mayor Paul Marino has previously said, "We are only trying to get this resolved. We want the development to be done. Now is the time to try and reroute the water before construction on the next phase is complete."