Correction appended.

One morning in 2004, Rose Sabangan woke up in her house, at 3372 Fort Independence St., and the view in her backyard had changed.

Every tree was gone. A developer — GRA V, LLC — was beginning construction on a 63-unit, five-story apartment building in the lot adjacent to her backyard.

At around the same time, some of her neighbors involved with the Fort Independence Park Neighborhood Association were working with Community Board 8 to have that area’s zoning changed to prevent such development.

CB 8 and FIPNA were successful and the development stopped. After some legal wrangling, the developer abandoned the lot. The chain-link fence surrounding the property eventually collapsed and, for the last few years, the plot has been surrounded by a plywood fence that neighbors say regularly falls apart.
Ms. Sabangan’s house is one of four on Fort Independence Street that have backyards touching the stalled construction site. The homes, all constructed between 1899 and 1925, are built downhill from the barren site. Without trees on the slope, Ms. Sabangan said water flows down into her backyard and into her basement.

“It’s like a waterfall,” she said.

It’s gotten so bad she recently bought a pump to remove it.

Next door, Bill Gordy, 72, said the developer removed the historic 8-foot tall stone retaining wall that divided his property from its incomplete project.

“Once upon a time I had a very beautiful, nice thing in the back of my yard and now I’ve got an eyesore,” he said.

His view is of a broken chain link fence, as well as a plywood one. He said he used to entertain guests in his backyard, but no longer.

Neighbors on the north side of the property on Cannon Place have problems, too. The stalled site might cost Monishwar Sookram, 57, thousands of dollars.

When the developer excavated under the retaining wall in his backyard, workers left a portion of it exposed. After pouring part of the foundation, court battles caused the developer to pack up and leave but, Mr. Sookram said, nobody cleaned up the mess.