Red tags lifted off houses

A nationally known homebuilder has received clearance to continue working on most of the partially constructed Plumas Lake houses that were red-tagged by Yuba County last month.

County spokesman Russ Brown said that as of Wednesday D.R. Horton Inc. had received reinstated building permits for all but nine of 73 homes the company is building in the Prairie Trails and Prairie Meadows subdivisions.

“We are still looking at what happened in terms of all the documents, but the biggest concern has always been getting them back to work,” Brown said. “There are people out there who have identified lots to have homes built, and we don’t want to delay their plans.”

The construction halt was ordered in mid-May after county building inspectors found discrepancies in six reports filed by the developer.

The problem centered on improperly installed retrofit and anchor bolts that attach homes to the concrete foundation.

Brown said earlier the reports “came back with a listing that didn’t match up with what they’ve done.”

The so-called red tags effectively stopped construction on 41 homes in the subdivisions. Though permits had been issued on 73 lots, 32 were not yet under construction.

Brown said a Horton official contacted the county and said it had narrowed the improper reports down to one employee, who was subsequently fired.

Brown said there is no deadline for the work to be completed on the remaining nine homes, but it is expected the remaining building permits will be reinstated soon.