Christmas 2010 was not a merry one for Ken McEachnie.Rather than spending quality time with his two children, the single father bailed water from the basement of his Astra Road property near Kin Beach Park. As he had done in November 2009. The two floods, along with his shop that has flooded four times, have yielded insurance claims exceeding $20,000. "It's devalued our property. We can't even sell now because you would have to disclose flooding," McEachnie said.His mother-in-law, Peggy Braun, lives in a house next door. Her house, which sits on higher ground, has managed to avoid water but her yard has flooded."It's just wrong," Braun said. McEachnie recalls his property had not flooded before construction of the Kincora Ridge development across the road from CFB Comox, from where he said the flow of water has increased due to the number of trees that were cleared. He feels water that has entered his home is coming from the property of his neighbour, Robin Holmes, who had a dam constructed to measure flows."He just won't take his dam down," said McEachnie, who has alerted the regional district and highways department to the problem. He has also contacted Fisheries and Oceans Canada because a fish spawning stream is in the vicinity. Although empathetic, authorities have indicated the case is a civil matter."For four years I've been somewhat patient and understanding of his dam because he was involved in litigation with Kincora Ridge," McEachnie said. "He has since lost his litigation and won't take down the dam...I just can't believe this is legal."Holmes, whose property has also flooded, said McEachnie's property would flood with or without the dam, which he notes has been dismantled on two occasions. "He's facing the same thing that we have for the last five years long before that development even broke ground," said Holmes, who was concerned about the discharge of water before and after development.To his understanding, the permit indicated no more water would pass through the property in a 24-hour period than before development. Holmes said the district and environment ministry both approved the dam, the purpose of which is to perform calculations to determine if the amount of flow was the same before and after development. The dam also does "what their (Kincora) retention pond is not doing," said Holmes, a Port Moody resident who rents his property.He notes Kincora installed trenching that diverted most of the water that used to drain and absorb into the property."The volume of water through that ditch has probably increased tenfold," he said. From a legal standpoint, Holmes said he does not have to allow water from Kincora to pass through his property. He employed the services of two engineers, who said a storm water management plan was flawed. "It's the speed at which the water runs off the property is what's caused all these problems," said Holmes, adding McEachnie's is a lower-lying property.Holmes has raised the slabs to mitigate flooding at his house. He has suggested McEachnie needs to berm up or sandbag his property. "We're trying to work with him (McEachnie)," said Holmes, who feels the "complicated matter" could have been prevented several years ago had the developer considered certain suggestions like enlarging the retention pond.Not quite, according to developer Kip Keylock, who says flooding was compounded when the dam was built next door."Our water flows are substantially less than when our project was started," Keylock said by e-mail. He notes the matter has been in court and that Kincora "made our stand clear" as to the review process, which involved the Ministry of Transportation and the regional district.reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com