This thread is starting in the middle of the project. I'll be posting updates here, and as time permits I also intend to provide some background information, some history of the problem.
2010-09-04
Steve Wilson reports:
The attorneys for each party have been talking and exchanging ideas, and each thought this should be finalized pretty quickly. We thought we had real momentum since the neighbor's attorney was anxious to get this finalized before his wedding and honeymoon. Unfortunately, the neighbors are dragging their feet and not being responsive to their own attorney, so it didn't get done. Their attorney won't be back until September 13, but hopefully things move quickly then.
Email sent from our attorney to the neighbor's newlywed attorney on 9/14. No answer as of this writing.
Quick update: Negotiations with the neighbor continue. Read more in the minutes from the last Board meeting (which should be posted within a day or two).
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Michael Park
From the latest minutes:
Brandon will create a plan to get us through the winter, as well as begin work on the South half of the project.
(Brandon Hamilton is our architect.)
Since it seemed less and less likely that we would come to an agreement with our neighbor (Mr. Leckman) before winter, we have decided to just go ahead and work around the Leckman property.
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Michael Park
Steve Wilson's email to homeowners (2010-10-09):
Hello folks, the neighbor's attorney returned from his wedding & honeymoon in mid-September and has been exchanging proposals with our attorney since. The neighbors have been adding to their demands, and our attorney was supposed to have sent his latest reply yesterday. This doesn't look like it's going to settle quickly.
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Michael Park
The Board will be meeting next week to go over Brandon's latest addendum to his repair plan.
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Michael Park
Steve Wilson emailed homeowners:
Hello folks, at long last we have some good news for you. The much delayed development on the south and southeast corner of our property is supposed to start work on, or about December 1. For those of you who have been keeping score, you will recall that part of our development agreement with them requires that they water proof our garage walls on the property adjacent to them, when they excavate. We expect that the result of our avoiding doing the work ourselves, will save us in the neighborhood of $30,000 - $40,000.
Since we negotiated that agreement, the architect has recommended that we remove the planter and earth on the east property line, to repair our deck. We are now in discussions with the developer to cart that away as well, which would save us another huge chunk of money.
We will keep you posted on additional developments.Steve Wilson
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Michael Park
Re the addendum review meeting mentioned two posts ago, Steve Wilson reports:
Basically we just finalized the "wish list" for Brandon, so he could finalize design/specs for the bidding.
Steve Wilson met with the managers in charge of the upcoming work south of us. His report from that meeting:
- Most important and significant - We need to have our planter sliced up and the concrete and dirt dumped on their lot by December 1, and they will haul away for free.
- They expect their construction cycle will be 16 months long.
- They are interested in exploring the renting of our rear deck for the first six months to locate their porta-potties and temporary construction office. (Shipping container - 8' X 40'?) After the bottom level of their parking garage is completed, they will move down there for the duration. The benefit to the homeowners would be lots of traffic and security during work hours (7AM - 5PM), and rent to subsidize our budget. Brandon would need to get them construction plans and DPD data asap, so their engineer can calculate the weight bearing load on our deck. It shouldn't interfere with our deck resurfacing, as they can occupy one half the space, then move to the other half.
- We need not worry about retaining the chain link fence adjacent to their property, as they will be erecting a new fence. (David still needs to return the rental fence by November 30.)
- We need to get our waterproofing bid to them asap, per the terms of our development agreement. (There is a limited window.)
- They may be interested in renting/using some parking spaces in our garage for the first six months, and the inducement to us to agree might include the installation of a security camera system.
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Michael Park