Guests departed and back to blogging

That was a long blog break! Our friends just left this morning. Originally she told me they were leaving on Monday, so I didn't bother taking Tuesday off. Then on Sunday we were outside chatting with our neighbors and their guests and they asked our friends how long they will be here and she said until Tuesday.....no one had told me the change, LOL. No biggie, other than I texted my boss yesterday and told her I was taking an additional day.

So, my first post back is going to be about the guy and his "wife"(? I'm thinking maybe they aren't married) who want to build the 8000 sf steel warehouse to live in and operate his business out of. LOTS to tell. Last Wednesday we found out they got the letter from all of us. Per the county attorney's recommendation he said to cc him on it. Well, the guy went into the county atty's office Wednesday and spent an hour and a half complaining to him. Very mad at all of us. Said we are all ganging up on him. The atty told him "no they aren't. There are covenants and they are all trying to protect their homes and property investments. You can't build that there". He apparently also told the guy that he can't build something that straddles both his lots. The lots are not short platted that way and the county restrictions on the short plat says all building must be within 15 (or maybe it was 25) feet of property lines. He also said if the guy thinks he's just going to "combine the 2 lots into one" he's going to have to try to change the short plat with the county and that's very unlikely to happen. He also suggested this guy meet up with Mr. over coffee and discuss the letter. (after he left the atty called Mr and told him all this)

Then he tried to tell the atty that well Mr and Mrs house doesn't meet the covenants. It's made of concrete and said our property is breaking the covenants because we have 60% hardcover (building, concrete and asphalt) and the covenants say not more than 25% hardcovered. First off Mr and Mrs house is a concrete log home and unless you were standing next to it you would never know it's not real logs and even then it still looks like real logs. It's an amazingly beautiful home and beautiful yard. It is 100% "residential in character". Our covenants read "must be frame or log home". Secondly, our property is only 22% hardcovered. When we had the driveway paved and the street widened (to be the 2 lane it was supposed to be when the developer subdivided it) dh made damn sure he wasn't going over 25%.

Thursday morning Mr. forwards us all several emails he got from this guy early that morning. The guy said the atty suggested we have a meeting over coffee to discuss this letter. Mr. replied back that I like the idea, however the residents here agreed that we need to meet with everyone when it came to further discussions. The guy replied back: That not possible since the clan committed an Esprit de Coup against me and Mrs (different last name than his). Mr replied back I’m part of that clan, but I understand. Let me see what everyone feels about this. The guy replied back well you do whatever you have to do with your clan. I'll be standing by.

Mr then had a very good reply back: 

I am not the leader or spokesperson for the subdivision. All of us who currently live here have our life savings invested into our home and property. Every one of us read and understood the covenants and made the decision to build here because of them. We are not accepting of this area to have any semblance whatsoever of a heavy equipment operation or storage yard, even if the equipment is covered in a building. Those covenants protect us from that happening, and your plans for Lots #4 and #5 don’t come close to how we will accept this subdivision to grow. What we are doing is not against you and (wife's name) personally, as we’d take this stand on anyone with your plans. This is not, and will not, become any form of an industrial yard and I’m sorry you didn’t read the restrictions before you and (wife's name) made the purchase.  

I’m waiting to hear from the other neighbors, and I thank you for reaching out. I’ll be back in touch soon.

Thursday morning the guy shows up and stops at the corner of our lots and spray paints some measurement and an arrow on the street and does the same at the corner to lot 6 and leaves. At 1pm our out of state guests arrived. They had just gotten in the front door and we were saying hello, etc and we see the guy pull back into the neighborhood again. He gets out at the front corner of the properties and pounds in some sort of sign. Then he drives on down to the other corner (which we can't seem from our property). We continue to visit with our friends, they get their suitcases out of their truck, etc. Once back inside we all decide to go out on our back patio. We didn't realize the guy and his wife were standing on their property right near where our fence ends, (just yards from our back patio) he had just started pounding in another sign, facing our house that says "no trespassing".  Oh good grief. DH just stood on our patio watching him do this, not saying a word. The guy looks up and points/jabs his finger towards dh and says something none of us could hear......oh no....dh walked right over there saying to the guy "what the F is your problem?!" Our friend followed him, while I decided to stay back on the patio thinking less yelling would be going on and I knew friend would listen to it all and remember it all, too. Plus I wasn't going to walk away from our friends wife.

To be continued..........