For Marie Misch and her six grown children, her five-acre hobby farm in Pineview will always be home.
But changes made to neighbouring properties over the past 15 years have turned the hobby farm into a swamp. After neighbours raised the elevation of their land, water which previously would have run off her property in the spring is trapped, Misch said.
"We used to have a road to the back of our land, but I never go back there because I have to go through swamp. In 1996, it was still grassy over there," she said. "I'd like to see neighbours take responsibility for the runoff from their property. [But] because I live in the regional district, there is no law against raising your land."
Misch and her husband bought their property on Ellis Road, half a mile outside city limits, in 1977. With a house, barn, large garden and several acres of pasture for horses it was everything they wanted to raise their family.
In the late 1990s her neighbour decided to build an access road from Ellis Road to the back of his property, she said. The wet ground prevented the road from being usable, but the road began to act as a dyke - preventing water from flowing off her property, she said.
But it was seven years later - after the death of her husband in 2003 - when the neighbour on the other side raised their property that the trouble really began, she said.
"Where can the water go? It can go nowhere," Misch said.
Each year in April and May she has her pump running to attempt to control the large puddles which flood her landscaped yard, garden and barn.
"The barn is rotten, it's sunk. There was a bush growing through the floor," she said. "Because it looks so awful in the spring, I almost gave up on a garden. I used to have raspberries right to the fence. The only thing that grows there now is weeds."
Misch said she doesn't blame her current neighbours who bought the property after the changes were made. However, she said, the value and enjoyment of her property has been greatly depreciated by the actions of others.
"I'd like to see ditches on both sides," Misch said. "I didn't create the problem, I don't think it should be my expense to remedy it."
Fraser-Fort George Regional District spokesperson Rene McClosky said the regional district doesn't have the authority to regulate drainage issues.
"Our building permits just apply to buildings. We don't require a drainage plan, because we don't have that jurisdiction," McClosky said. "Municipalities do, but out in the unincorporated areas... it would be very difficult to manage."
McClosky said the only recourse available to Misch would be to seek damage from her former neighbours in a lawsuit.
Misch's current neighbours could not be reached for comment as of press time.
