News
Neighbors upset city can't force man to finish work on house
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
Some neighbors of Sam McGee feel that his home on Hunters Forest Drive is an eyesore because of the endless construction projects.
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Published: May 11, 2008
Entire subdivisions have been built in less time than it's taking Sam McGee to finish a cathedral-like entrance and a monstrous addition to the back of his home in the Hunters Woods neighborhood in southwest Winston-Salem.
It's a source of endless frustration for neighbors who've had to look at a cluttered construction site for at least a decade, if not longer.
"I work in D.C. It's my 11th year of doing that," neighbor Bob Creel said. "He started that addition before I started commuting up there to work, and that's 11 years. He's built that front porch and torn it down -- conservatively -- at least three times.
"I've called (local government) so many times to complain about it that all I have to do is give an address and they know who I'm talking about. And the hell of it is there's not a thing they can do to make him finish it in a reasonable amount of time."
Creel and others upset with the snail's pace of home improvement have entered a gray area in local governance where regulation runs headlong into a bedrock principle of American property rights: A man's home is his castle, and he can darn well do what he wants with it.
"The neighbors have called me and harassed me and had the city of Winston on me like crazy," McGee said. "If I could wave a magic wand and have it done tomorrow, I would."
Must make progress
If you drove by McGee's house once or twice, you might not think it's that huge of a deal. But if you had to look at it day after day, month after month, year after year, you might.
The subdivision is stocked with nice homes and yards that residents take justifiable pride in maintaining. The neatly mowed yards and impressive landscaping say as much.
Then you look at McGee's house.
An angry, 18-inch-deep trench runs from the front of the house for a good 12 feet and has an exposed black plastic drain pipe in it. Clumps of knee-high grass look like small islands in a sea of gravel and dirt, surrounded by sagging orange temporary fencing.
Stacks of wooden pallets that appear to be rotting sit next to a construction trailer and a Bobcat earth-mover in the driveway. A worn cement mixer sits on the other side of the house, and doesn't look as if it has been used in months.
A valid building permit hangs in one window next to the grand entrance to the front of McGee's homestead -- and that's where the legal Hula-Hoops come into play.
The short version is that the city doesn't have a way to make sure that a job is finished in a reasonable amount of time. All city officials can do is require someone to have a valid building permit.
"Under the statutes, a permit is good as long as you're doing the work," said Charlie Norton, the city's inspections director. "There is no timeline for when a project has to be completed."
Up to code
There is an inspections process to make sure that work has started and that it's up to code. Other than that, if you feel like constantly building (and rebuilding) your front porch one brick a day, have at it.
"As long as you continue to do the work and don't stop for a 12-month period, the permit's valid," Norton said.
Peggy Danner, another of McGee's neighbors, knows all too well about what the city can and cannot make a homeowner do.
Since she and her husband bought their house in 2001, she has kept a fairly detailed chart on McGee's fits and starts of home improvement. She hasworked her way through the labyrinth at City Hall looking for a sympathetic ear and wondering if anything can be done.
She has considered trying mediation with McGee to come to some sort of accord, and contacted the City Council, only to be met with the proverbial Gallic shrug.
"If you can have a car on blocks in your front yard or constantly working on motorcycles in your driveway, that's considered a public nuisance, and this isn't?" she says in frustration.
In her desperation, Danner has even tried calling city workers whose job it is to deal with erosion and storm-water runoff, only to find out that to be considered "disturbed" to runoff and erosion, the affected area has to be half an acre or more.
Norton is sympathetic to the neighbors' situation and sounds sincere when he says that he wishes that more could be done.
"We have several similar situations that pop up every now and then," he said. "It's unfortunate when neighbors have to put up with it. But ‘nuisance' trash and debris on an active construction site are different things.
"Yes, it's unsightly and a pain in the butt, but it's also kind of a loophole situation."
Perhaps McGee was embarrassed by the questions about his project. Maybe he was merely blowing smoke to get me to go away. But several times he did promise to pick up the pace of work at his house.
"I'm going to put it in high gear right now and try to get the driveway and landscaping done by my daughter's wedding in June," he said Friday. "That's just what I'm going to do."
■ Scott Sexton can be
reached at 727-7481 or at
ssexton@wsjournal.com
.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( Anjelina1 ) on May 14, 2008 at 12:32 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
That's ridiculous and ther should be some law that prohibits the constant disturbance of people while in their homes on their own property. He's lucky no one has just burned his house down. You gotta be careful who you make mad these days and how far you push people.
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Posted by ( ANDYEE ) on May 17, 2008 at 6:52 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
yes, and more on edge as each day goes by.
talk softly, tread lightly, the world is a more dangerous place today than ever before! (Are you listening)?
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