Or how many fat ladies does it take to sing that it’s over, before it really, really is over.
Mid-September had John and me believing we were happier than pigs in slop due to the September 10 approval of our variance application by the county’s BZA (Board of Zoning Appeals). Work on Stella was again in full force. Accepting of all the attention being paid her, Stella responded with striking beauty.
As the hand-cut cedar shake siding began to cover more and more of Stella, we became more and more delighted with having chosen it. Stunning was our favorite description. A drain field is dug and a septic system is installed. Long awaited cement trucks return to Lee-Hall Farm’s driveway and porches are poured. Finally we can get into the house through the front, back, and side entrances – woo hoo! Woo hoo indeed! When the bead board front and back porch ceilings were completed, we felt as tickled as a child finding proof of the tooth fairy’s existence under the pillow the morning after losing that first tooth.
Our favorite mason returned to lay the brick façade on the front A-frame. We were reminded how beautiful the Farmington brick was and our 2012 brick was finally getting its showcase resting place. A 2012 brick for a house still not complete in November 2013? The simple explanation is that John and I began to give Stella life in 2012. After our June Revolutionary and Civil War History vacation in Virginia that year, we began looking for suitable house plans and a general contractor. Although it was never intended that Stella would be completed in 2012, work on the house was initially thought to begin later that fall.
In the evening of Wednesday, September 25, 2013 John and I had gone interior doorknob shopping at the request of our builder. We’d gone to dinner first and then shopping. On our way home at approximately 9:20 pm the car starts quacking, quacking because I set a duck’s quack as the builder’s ringtone when all it did in the earliest stages of construction was rain and rain some more.
John and I were startled that our builder would be calling at such an hour in the night. Our state of startle was justified. Bad news was on the other end of that quacking ringtone. Our builder was calling to inform us that the county Board of Supervisors had had a closed session meeting earlier in the evening and the result was that they had voted 5-2 to repeal the decision made earlier in the month by the BZA. Further, they had voted to instruct the county attorney to file suit against the builder and me and, to issue a restraining order against me, meaning construction on Stella must cease.
Apparently the fat lady did not sing on September 10, although we could have sworn we heard her sing.
Never could we have imagined a scenario like this. It made no sense to us nor would it ever make sense as legally, an explanation was not due us.
In short order we were back in the attorney’s office planning strategy and trying to guess the order of events within the county’s court system. We quickly learned that the county wastes little time in suing its citizens. Within two weeks I was served and the restraining order was in place.
I’m as innocent as the driven snow, just ask my Sunday school teacher. Were she still alive today, there’s no doubt she’d tell you!
Complete, utter innocence does little to deflect despondence and innocence does little to keep one from apprehensively looking over one’s shoulder, curious as to from where the next wrench will be thrown or how much further the county will pursue something so incomprehensible.
John and I were devastated as was our builder, but for obviously differing reasons. We did share money as a common reason. With determination our builder set forth to contact each member of the Board of Supervisors. He learned that in our being denied due process, the board had not been presented all the facts of our case.
We also learned that two weeks after voting to deny our variance appeal and sue me, the Board of Supervisors was presented another variance appeal that mirrored our case almost to a T. The board unanimously voted to grant this new appeal brought before them. Needless to say, the decision puzzled us and a feeling of inequity was glaring.
Additional meetings with the attorney followed. There were an abundance of things we didn’t understand; primarily among them was the absence of due process and inequity. The attorney filed an answer to the suit stating that I denied all items within the suit and that I demanded strictest proof of the claims. In the meantime, our builder continued to reach out to the members of the Board of Supervisors with intent to speak with each one prior to the next scheduled closed session on October 23.
We also made the decision not to allow the county to proceed with suit against me. If the Board again ruled to stay their September decision, we would withdraw our variance appeal and the case would be dropped. We then would either move the house or alter it to comply with county code. We began brainstorming with the builder and his subcontractors and developed a pleasantly acceptable alteration plan. These decisions were made because we had no more time to give. Were we to lose and continue to fight the case, it was conceivable that the county could pursue this until it reached Virginia’s supreme court, a process that could take another 14 or more months.
No, could not, would not do that.
On Wednesday, October 23, 2013 the Hanover County Board of Supervisors did a 180-degree turn around and voted 5-2 to drop the suit against me and revoke the restraining order. It was acknowledged that their prior ruling had been made without the privilege of all the facts concerning our appeal. It was acknowledged that the mistake of the builder and the county’s decisions against me inflicted hardship upon me. It was acknowledged that the county had not uncovered the error, but rather the builder had blown the whistle on himself, reporting his error to the county on the first business day after discovery.
The county attorney recommended to the judge that the case be dismissed with prejudice and the restraining order lifted. The judge accepted the recommendation, dismissed the case and lifted the order.
“Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” – Thank you, Dr. King
I pull from Wikipedia and NOLO respectively, to explain “with predjudice” –
“Prejudice is a legal term with different meanings when used in criminal, civil or common law. In general, an action taken with prejudice indicates misconduct on the part of the party who filed the claim and forbids that party from refiling the case, while without prejudice often refers to procedural problems where the party may refile.”
“When a lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice, the court is saying that it has made a final determination on the merits of the case, and that the plaintiff is therefore forbidden from filing another lawsuit based on the same grounds.”
Construction is now underway after having endured two stop orders. The work taking place is bringing joy to our hearts once more. We have no idea when we’ll move in, but it is beginning to look like it will actually happen rather than remain a dream. We now have real interior walls and doors! Real ones!
S-t-e-l-l-a!
Breakfast nook as seen from the dining room
Reminder – picture links can be found on the right side of the page. Newest pictures can be viewed by clicking the link “Beginning Again.”