Posted on 06/03/2006 9:42:31 AM PDT by khnyny
The county granted the couple new permits, then voided them and halted construction when neighbors pointed out the house was originally built seven feet too close to the street and two feet too close to the home of William Hamilton, an editor at the Washington Post, and his wife, Jane Mayer, a staff writer for the New Yorker.Mr. Hamilton and Mrs. Mayer; ABC News reporter Jackie Judd; and prominent lawyer Michael Eig and his wife, Emily, are among those who have complained about the Duffys' home.
Nah, the ordinance changed such that water after the septic system can never be allowed to reach the 'ground water'.
Thus, the septic system must be completely removed, and redesigned such that all waste water must all evaporate upward; so a field must be dug that is 3x the normal size, the field is then lined with plastic, then gravel, then the pipes, then gravel/rock, then sand, then dirt. You will always have a green lawn in that area; but if you have a lot of rain, you are in deep trouble.
Apparently, the septic water from a single family dwelling is forever made toxic and must be treated special; whereas the confinement hog or beef lot waste water is perfectly healthy.
Sure, they may be corrupt; and there may be candidates for a prison-date with Bubba, but in at least ONE case, these offials appear to be doing their jobs.
‘‘Do I care about the principle of 5 feet or 7 feet? Of course not,” Eig said in a phone interview. ‘‘I do care about the fact that what they’ve done by putting up those new walls is completely obliterate their neighbors’ air, sun and light and flooded their basement ... because the Duffy’s roof is pouring water into it.”
Nice. I've seen pictures of neighborhoods like this. It is unnecessary to build so high above your close neighbor as to do this to them. We live in a small N. VA town and some new homes have been very beautifully and tastefully done in keeping with the neighbor's houses. Kind of craftsmany styles to go along with the old "Sears" homes.
Then when the neighbors:
Michael (a lawyer who has made quite a bit of money suing local school systems, including MoCo, for parents of special ed students) and Emily Eig,
William Hamilton (an editor at the Washington Post) and Jane Mayer ( a staff writer for the New Yorker),
Michael Shulman and Jacqueline Judd (aka ABC News reporter Jackie Judd),
and Kristen Gerlach (owner of Gerlach Real Estate Inc),
wrote letters complaining of zoning violations to Doug Duncan, they would have gotten the "Thanks for your interest" form letter from him, as referenced in the article quoted in post #25 above.
Instead, the Duffys got Clarksburged.
Listen, don;'t do me any favors by moving next dooir to me if your automatic assumption for the imposition of the freedom and property robbing rules is that all people will do this.
If you lived next to me you would not have any of it and I would build better than code and more, but for the people that break such protocol with their neighbor my freedom is trumped so don't pontificate about your rights being violated when all you have to do is communicate with good neighbors. And yes, I know idiot and bad neighbors exist, but the proper venue for making it right would then be working with them and requiring personal responsibility from them.. There does not have to be a heinous amount of laws on the books for you to take someone to task leagally for devaluing your property by their actions. So, for that oerson I must obey unacceptable rules that are primarilly desinged to increase my taxes to people who are irresponsible with money to begin with and some who love their positions of power.
Stop assuming that people who hate the rules of idiots want to ruin your nice looking home or situation...have a little more faith in your fellow citizen and work towards a community that does not have to have tax-nazis, and buliding "Permit" (read tax revenue) jerks and self-important townies who impose ridiculous rules which make you not a land owner but a serf. Look up what serf means and think about all these rules and taxes then get back to me about what you think you really own and have right to.
Listen, don;'t do me any favors by moving next dooir to me if your automatic assumption for the imposition of the freedom and property robbing rules is that all people will do this.
If you lived next to me you would not have any of it and I would build better than code and more, but for the people that break such protocol with their neighbor my freedom is trumped so don't pontificate about your rights being violated when all you have to do is communicate with good neighbors. And yes, I know idiot and bad neighbors exist, but the proper venue for making it right would then be working with them and requiring personal responsibility from them.. There does not have to be a heinous amount of laws on the books for you to take someone to task leagally for devaluing your property by their actions. So, for that oerson I must obey unacceptable rules that are primarilly desinged to increase my taxes to people who are irresponsible with money to begin with and some who love their positions of power.
Stop assuming that people who hate the rules of idiots want to ruin your nice looking home or situation...have a little more faith in your fellow citizen and work towards a community that does not have to have tax-nazis, and buliding "Permit" (read tax revenue) jerks and self-important townies who impose ridiculous rules which make you not a land owner but a serf. Look up what serf means and think about all these rules and taxes then get back to me about what you think you really own and have right to.
No one is going to put a gun to your head and make you buy a home in a deed restricted area. No one is going to force their way on to your property and demand that you accept a situation that was not in place prior to your purchase.
By the same token; allow me to enter into legal contracts such that my neighborhood is contractually protected from people who have neither the ambition, nor intention of maintaining their property.
One does not have to travel very far (within any major city in the USA) to see once prominent and well-kept neighborhoods that are now trashed, full of discarded appliances and are dangerous to be in once darkness falls. Deed restrictions and HOA's could have saved those properties, but 'free-thinkers' kept that from happening. That will not happen in my neighborhood; because I and others like me pay association fees. These fees are used to secure legal representation to prevent this from happening. Fail to follow the rules, and I and others in the HOA will evict you, and sell the house from underneath you. We will not allow miscreants to destroy what we have built.
Follow the rules that were clearly presented prior to closing on your home; and you will have absolutely nothing to worry about.
LOL! Seriously, I think the problem here is the perceived media clout of the complainants. If Michael Duffy had been Ted Koppel, I doubt round one would have ended the way it did. Maybe this should be a lesson to all of us about having household names as neighbors.
You don't follow. That property you pay for is not yours to call the shots on fully and I think you know this but are avoiding the conversation. You and I would most likely keep the same house up to standards acceptable to all. You, however, are assuming that the ridiculous rules that have nothing to do with deed restriction but come from town and state, are ok when they simply steal from you. freedom and time and money.
Don't pay tyhe tax and see how much that property is yours. Make a simple yet honest mistake and find out just how fast you are punished and forced against your will to "take it down" when what you did neither bothers a single person, devalues a single home in the area or offends in the slightest.
And again, you assume that all will degrade to red-neck trailer status were it not for these things when its not the case. You want to be in an association? Have at it. I support you, but do not pretend that I have to enjoin and have my town do the same to me as you submit to in your association which is precisely what has happened in so many places in the land of the serfs and the home of the brave.
Personally I will not buy in an association and I alos look closely at dees for covenants and restrictions. I won't have any of it. I also look at where i am buying for the potential conflicts and problems. You appear to think that there is protection in the associations...to some extent that is true, but like it has been said...those who yeild their liberty for security receive neither.
Chicago's Building Codes are among the most stringent in the nation, maybe the toughest (because of that fire thingy way back when). The general Code book is about 3" thick and these jackasses don't know 1/20 1/100 of what's in it as every one of them is a union hack with clout who are too dumb to work in the field. Also, the majority are 'Carpenters' and what they know about Structural Engineering, Fire Protection, Electrical, HVAC, Plumbing, etc, etc, etc, is zero. However if you want a rear deck built for cash, they're the guys to see (sarcasm).
It's up to Architects, Engineers, competent contractors and sub-contractors [ like me :-) ] to construct the buildings the right way.
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