Resident’s dream becomes nightmare

Friday, March 16, 2001 | 11:13 a.m.

Writer Alma Davies-Williams wanted her dream swimming pool to have a waterfall, cave and island, but all she got was an unsightly hole with weeds and rusty pipes.

Davies-Williams turned out to be one of dozens of homeowners who were victimized by the now-defunct Cascade Pools of Las Vegas. The company's misdeeds were considered so horrific that the Nevada Legislature is considering a bill to tighten pool construction regulations.

But when neighbors complained about the mess in her back yard, Davies-Williams was fined $1,800 last year by the Sun City Summerlin Community Association board. Her pool has since been completed by another company, and the board lowered the penalty by about $800 based on her pleas. But she refuses to pay the remaining fine based on principle.

"I found that Cascade Pools scammed me and that it's their responsibility, not mine," Davies-Williams said. "I should not be fined for something that is not my fault."

Harvey Hoffman sees it differently. The Sun City association's executive director said Davies-Williams was fined because the hole in her back yard was left that way for more than a year and the board felt she had the financial wherewithal to complete the pool sooner.

"Each person who is fined is capable of coming up with good reasons as to why the problem was beyond their control," Hoffman said. "The association can only deal with people on an even basis. In this case we had an open hole that was a safety hazard as well as a visual problem."

Homeowners often are fined by their associations for building additions to their homes without proper permits, maintaining sloppy landscaping or having no control over their barking dogs. But Steve Urbanetti, the state Real Estate Division's interim ombudsman charged with settling disputes between homeowners and associations, said it is unusual for a homeowner to get fined for poor work performed by a shady contractor.

"An $1,800 fine seems to be a pretty high fine to me," Urbanetti said. "If she refuses to pay the fine, she's better off filing a complaint with the Real Estate Division for dispute resolution."

The State Contractors Board last fall revoked former Cascade Pools owner Gregory Majeroff's license after fielding complaints about incomplete pools and his separate financing company, which was accused of making faulty loans. Majeroff told the Sun last month that he was unfairly targeted by the board and that the negative publicity damaged his 10-year-old business to the point where he could not complete pools.

But 20 homeowners are suing him and his former companies because they received foreclosure notices after refusing to pay off loans for what they claimed were incomplete pools. The bill introduced in the Legislature, Senate Bill 216, would make it illegal to foreclose on a homeowner based on an unfinished pool that was not their fault.

Davies-Williams did not face foreclosure, but she did get slapped with a $21,000 lien by a Cascade subcontractor who allegedly wasn't paid. She squared that problem and hired another pool company. She now has a pool with a waterfall to go with her hilltop view of the Las Vegas Valley and a golf course abutting her back yard. But she cannot shake the Sun City association fine.

She became so incensed with the association she made up a sign of protest for passing golfers to see. Some even signed her petition, adding comments that the fine was "shocking," "not fair" and "stupid." Surprising as it may seem, she is more upset about the association than with Majeroff, who eventually released her from his contract after conceding he could not complete her pool.

"The board kept complaining about the pool not getting done, and I kept going after him," Davies-Williams said. "He's a good and generous person who just offered more than he could handle. He wanted to please everybody, but he wanted to help too many people and couldn't handle it."