April 20, 2009
To Whom It May Concern:
Two years ago, Miss Lucile passed away. We loved our 94-year-old next door neighbor. But little did we know the impact that her passing would have on our home life. Miss Lucile’s kids had long ago moved out of the home that Miss Lucile and her late husband purchased brand new in the early 1950s, the same time our modest home was built. So when their mother passed away, they had no need for the home.
They sold it to a custom homebuilder who saw an opportunity to turn a modest homestead into a “garage-Mahal”.
Down went the one-story, 1,400 square foot prairie home, and up went a two-story 4,500-square foot McMansion. And throughout the process, our home and our life were less than an afterthought to the builder – they were no where in his thinking at all.
It started as soon as the demolition of Miss Lucile’s house began. Two days into the demolition, the builder’s bulldozer knocked over Miss Lucile’s garage – straight into our new fence, knocking down two complete panels. Needless to say, our small dog was delighted that it now had a 16-foot escape route out of the side of our yard. We, on the other hand, were not as excited about our brand new fence being demolished.
The demolition crew tried to repair the fence right away, thanks to the insistence or our good friend who was dog-watching for us at the time. If she had not been there to demand that the fence be replaced immediately, our dog would have surely run away.
However, remember that the crew that replaced our fence wasn’t in the fence repair business – they were in the demolition business. Our brand new fence was never the same. It had a bend in it from that day forward, and still has that same crook today.
The view out of our master bedroom and our guest bedroom used to be of landscaping surrounding Miss Lucile’s home. Now, all three windows look directly into an eight-foot high fence with metal poles staring straight back at us. The builder promised to install a second row of pickets on the fence so we wouldn’t have to look at the poles, but he never did. He also promised to stain the back of the fence. But he never did that either.
In fact, the builder promised many things that he never delivered upon. What he did do was damage our sprinkler system, destroy our landscaping, and allowed his construction workers to pee in our flower bed – all the things that make for good neighbors.
The result is the following:
· No privacy in our backyard – the gargantuan structure adjacent to us includes several rooms with views into what was once our private sanctuary
· No sunlight into half of our house – the side of our home that is now so close to this two-story monstrosity is in constant darkness
· Destruction of our iris bed – the lack of sunlight into our once gorgeous iris garden has kept the flowers from blooming
· Floodlight nights – when the lights are on in the house next door, our entire bedroom is awash in lights so bright, we can’t sleep.
Our neighborhood was reluctant to enact a Neighborhood Stabilization Overlay because they thought it would curtail development. Well, there has been no lack of development in our neighborhood. Houses all over have been torn down, and now it looks like every block in Plano. In fact, the development has been able to run rampant, over the lives, landscaping, and privacy of those who have lived here for years. Don’t let this happen to you. We’ve regretted it from the day Miss Lucile passed away.
Julie Walters and Eric Van Steenburg
Click to enlarge either of these photos. This first one shows how the house next door really towers over their home. It also shows how much farther forward on the lot the new house is.
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