Cathy Roach pictured here pointing out damage to her house's stack stone foundation. An engineer's report attributed the damage to vibrations caused by Cypress Fields earthwork.

ADAMS TWP — Cathy Roach was alone in her kitchen when her house started to shake one day last November.

Pots, pans and picture frames rattled. Across the street, excavators and trucks carved up the earth of Cypress Fields, a 35-unit development approved last year.

“The sensation is like a hovercraft over your house,” Roach said. “It's almost as if some sort of high-powered helicopter was on top of you. As soon as they would turn that machine on you would feel it and hear it. It's very strange.”

For the last 12 months, Roach said, she experiences it several times a week. In August she received confirmation that the vibrations are also damaging the house's foundation and chimney, potentially putting those inside at risk.

When the plan was first proposed to Adams Township officials in 2016, Roach raised concerns that the development was too close to her 150-year-old farmhouse. Her home was built in 1863, before setback requirements and lies 13 feet from Davidson Road, a 17-foot-wide street that borders the development.

“I was concerned because my original 150-year-old portion is the front. That's the worst part,” Roach said. “I brought that to their attention, that it's a stack stone foundation, what was going to happen being that close.”

Supervisors told her the plan did not violate any township ordinances, she said, and they couldn't deny approval based on her concerns.

Additionally, the developer, Bove Development Corporation, conducted pre-surveys of the Roach property which had not indicated that there would be a problem, said Terry Bove, president of Bove Development Corporation

Supervisors approved Cypress Fields in January 2017.

This is an excerpt — find out more about the damage and how it is affecting Roach's family in Monday's Butler Eagle.