Woman buys land from PennDOT to build house, then finds out previous owner sold it due to landslide

ROSS TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A woman bought land from PennDOT and built a house, only to find out PennDOT had purchased the land from the previous owner because of a landslide.

Chief Investigator Rick Earle has been digging into how this could have happened for the past few months.

Donna Schwartzbauer purchased the land from PennDOT and built a house, only to find out that PennDOT had purchased the land from the previous owner because of an unstable hillside.

Chief Investigator Rick Earle has been digging into this story for the past several months to find out how this happened.

PennDOT declined to answer Earle’s questions, citing the possibility of pending legal action.

So, Earle tracked down the previous owner and the former PennDOT District Engineer who was in charge of Allegheny County back in the early 90s.

After repeated issues with the hillside sliding behind his home on Connie Drive in Ross Township below Perrysville Avenue just outside the city of Pittsburgh, Robert Joswiak said PennDOT agreed to purchase his house and the land.

“They [PennDOT] did tell me that land will never be sold, or the old property, it will never be built upon,” said Joswiak who owned the home in the early 90′s

After evaluating the hillside and taking core samples, Joswiak said PennDot initially offered a couple of solutions.

“We can put a wall up, but we can’t guarantee the wall will hold. And one of them came to me personally on the side and said with everything considered, I think it’s best that we just take the house,” said Joswiak.

Joswiak said they paid him fair market value for the house and the land and he bought a house in Beaver County.

He never heard anything more about his former home and property in Ross Township until now.

“I was driving around looking for a house and found this empty property,” said Donna Schwartzbauer.

Fourteen years after Joswiak sold it to PennDOT, PennDOT sold the property to Donna Schwartzbauer in 2006.

Shwartzbauer paid $15,000 for the land.

In the late 2000s, she decided to build a home on the property and that’s when her contractor made a shocking discovery.

He uncovered the foundation of Joswiak’s old home.

“It blew me away. I was just stunned and I said what and he explained to me,” said Schwartzbauer, who had no idea there had ever been a home on the land.

Schwartzbauer had a contractor remove the old foundation, and she didn’t think much about it until she began having repeated flooding issues in her basement.

And then this past spring, she noticed something even more troubling.  The steep hillside that goes all the way up to Perrysville Avenue began moving toward her house.

She should Earle the wood fence that came down when the earth moved.

There’s also a crater on the hillside where the earth moved.

“It’s probably five feet (away) and every time we get a big rain, it’s going to get closer and closer to my home insurance won’t touch it,” said Schwartzbauer.

11 Investigates also discovered a deed that indicated PennDOT planned to condemn the property when they purchased it from Joswiak in 1992.

Even though Schwartzbauer bought the property as is, she said PennDOT never told her about Joswiak’s house and all of the problems.

Earle: The state didn’t tell you about these problems?

Schwartzbauer: No, no.

Earle: You had no idea about any of these issues?

Schwartzbauer: None.  I would never buy a house.  I would never think of building.   I would never buy a piece of land even to put a putt-putt course on here.

Schwartzbauer, who has spent more than $30,000 of her own money trying to fix the issues, filed a claim against PennDOT but they denied it.

Earle reached out to PennDOT as well, but citing potential litigation, they declined to comment.

Schwartzbauer said she couldn’t sell the home with the land sliding, and it would cost too much for her to fix it.

She doesn’t want to move and said she just wants PennDOT to make it right.

“I don’t want to lose my house. I want the state to rectify the issue and fix the damage. They sold it without disclosing to me. My house is unsellable. I’m not asking them to build me a mansion. I just want, just make me whole here. Fix it so it doesn’t happen again,” said Schwartzbauer.

“The woman needs help.  She suffered a grave injustice that should have never occurred to no fault of her own. And somebody’s got to be held responsible. That’s why you are here today,” said Joswiak.

There are other homes in the area but they have not been impacted by the landslide.

Earle also tracked down former PennDOT District Engineer Henry Nutbrown, who confirmed that PennDOT purchased the land because of the slide.

But Nutbrown retired and he said he doesn’t know why the land was sold to Schwartzbauer.

Schwartzbauer said she considered filing a lawsuit but the attorney fees were just too high.

Schwartzbaurer and Earle both reached out separately to the state lawmakers in that area, but they offered little assistance.

Earle also reached out to Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, who said he is now looking into this.

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