Page 1 of 1 pages

The Angry Neighbor, Part 2

April 13, 2008

After a nearly two month “hiatus” while Builder Scott was getting his life in order and the weather was crappy, the Industrial Cottage is back on track.

Back in January, I wrote a little something about The Angry Neighbor who owns the house behind me but doesn’t live in it.

I got a call from the City of Charlottesville, and apparently, she’s still angry. She’s angry about this 15-foot strip of grass that’s between her yard and mine. She’s convinced it’s some sort of public roadway. And she’s mad that she can’t drive her car on it because we have a bunch of construction materials there.

The gal from the City was quite nice. It’s not clear who “owns” it. Water and sewer lines are under it. It is clear, to the Angry Neighbor, that the power pole I paid Dominion Power $600 to move on it is making it impossible to drive her vehicle on it. Let me be clear that this area is not paved. It’s doesn’t have gravel. It does not in any way resemble what could be called an alley, a street, or a road. It’s a strip of grass.

The Angry Neighbor actually called me the other day. I attempted to be very friendly and helpful. I asked her probably eight times why she wanted to drive her car in there. She just kept saying that I was denying her access to her property. Finally, she mumbled that she wanted to get some bricks that were in the back of her yard. I offered to have my guys move the bricks to wherever she’d like them. She replied that I was denying her access to her property, and that if all the neighbors whose homes touched that strip of grass decided to split it, or buy it or somehow take ownership of it, she wouldn’t be able to access her property. And that she thought it was quite thoughtless of me to have not discussed my project with her before I embarked on it, since I was denying her access to her property.

I told her that I discussed the project with the people who lived there before her, and that they were fine with it. She told me that she’s owned the property for two years. I replied that I’ve never seen her, and that since she doesn’t live in the house, there was really no way for me to have done that, and that her renters seemed to fine with it. She replied that she didn’t want to see playground equipment in my yard.

That stopped me. Apparently, the Angry Neighbor thinks I’m going to rent my funky little eco-cottage to a family with eight kids. And they’ll all be playing in my backyard!

I assured her that that would never be happening. And that I was trying to be a good neighbor, and what could I do to make her feel better? Finally, she said if I could move the pallet of bricks that are on the strip of grass she’d be happier. And that if I could move the power pole, that would be good, too.

So, I told her I’d “look into” both those items. She called back about five minutes later. FYI, she says. The City says that many of the old sewer and water lines are made of terra cotta. And they are fragile. And that heavy stuff on top of the ground might break them. So I should think about moving my bricks immediately, just in case. Oh, yes, of course!, I say. But I wanted to ask her what she thinks about driving her very heavy vehicle on there might do to those potentially fragile terra cotta things under the ground. But I didn’t.

My goal this week is to find out the actual status of the strip of grass. I will report back!

Your Comment: