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Galled over a garage - property rights and abuses
Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | February 24, 2004 | CHRISTOPHER QUINN

Posted on 02/23/2004 11:27:31 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife

The Outback, a subdivision in rural Pickens County that advertises "Mountain Living at Its Best," has turned into a neighborhood at its worst.

Former friends and acquaintances have fallen out bitterly over the neighborhood covenants, the rules governing what residents can or cannot build on their multi-acre, forested lots.

The building in question is a garage.

But it's not just any garage, housing the family sport utility vehicle and a sedan. It's an industrial-looking metal building that any monster truck would be proud to call home. It covers 5,000 square feet and sports roll-up doors 12 feet tall.

"I'm like Jay Leno, I'm a car guy," says its owner, Scott Korowotny.

He built it two years ago for a collection of seven vintageFords he's restoring, and he says he thought he was following the covenants when he did so.

The rules specifically forbid storing non-running cars — outside. The same rules are vague when describing what buildings — garages or houses — must look like. Four short paragraphs govern building materials, size, colors and locations. And they say metal siding is OK.

"Some people may feel I have violated good taste, but that's a matter of opinion," Korowotny says.

Residents of the Outback, where house prices range from $200,000 to $500,000, have discovered, too late, that what seems appropriate to one may be the worst fear of another. Does metal siding mean aluminum siding shaped to look like wooden boards, or the sheet metal typical of industrial buildings?

A judge will have to decide.

The subdivision, which lacked precise covenants and an architectural review committee to arbitrate disputes when Korowotny built, is now entangled in a divisive and expensive lawsuit. And the disagreement has set off the kind of bickering over aesthetics and subdivision politics that often pits neighbor against neighbor in developments across the Atlanta metro area.

Residents disagree over whether the garage is permitted under the covenants and whether the neighborhood association or just those who oppose the garage should be paying for the two-year-long court fight. An association newsletter shows legal bills near $20,000. And there's no end to the court dates in sight.

Destroying a dream

Pickens is a pastoral county of 23,000 people. Its only town of any size, Jasper, sports a pretty, turn-of-the-century main street and is home to only a little over 2,000 residents.

Locals cling fast to their property rights and freedoms. Diane Marger Moore, lawyer for those who are suing Korowotny, says, "You don't say the 'zoning' word up here."

The Outback is the kind of spread-out neighborhood that has lured people from more urban areas seeking a quiet, undisturbed life. About 40 houses have been built so far. There's room for 90.

Harold and Sharon Salinas retired there in 2000, moving up from Cumming.

"That was a dream we had always had," Harold Salinas says. "We built a custom-built home and invested just about all our life savings in it."

They enjoyed the views of green mountain peaks and blue horizons and began settling in with new friends and neighbors. "The first year or two before this fellow started [the garage] were the best years of my life," Salinas says.

He watched with interest as steel beams and panels arrived on a flatbed truck at Korowotny's lot, which is across the street from his dream house.

"I went over to ask him what he was building," Salinas says. Korowotny showed him the steel siding, painted beige to blend in with the "earth tones" the covenants call for. It also would have a more stylish peaked rather than flat roof, with overhanging eaves and gutters.

Salinas was not impressed.

"We realized then we had made a terrible mistake," he says. "That building across the road, which we can see quite vividly, pretty much destroyed our dream."

Lobbied neighbors

He lobbied other neighbors to take action. The Salinases were one of 12 couples and 11 individuals who hired Moore to send the Korowotnys a letter the same week the garage started going up. They believed the building violated the covenants and asked him to stop. When he didn't, they filed a lawsuit in Pickens County Superior Court.

Korowotny argues that he had asked subdivision managers about building a large garage with metal siding, and they told him it seemed OK under the covenants.

Tom Page, the manager for developer Four Seasons Properties, says covenants were intentionally loose — better suited to country lifestyles than metro suburban living. "It's a rural area," he explains. "People don't want a lot of restrictions."

After Four Seasons wrapped up its work and pulled out, the homeowners took over the neighborhood association and inherited the loosely written covenants — and Korowotny's garage.

Some of the most vocal plaintiffs have been elected to the board of the property owners association after the turnover. Under their leadership the group took over the lawsuit.

The suit says the garage is prefabricated, which is forbidden by the covenants, and is inappropriate among the brick, wood and stone-sided homes. It depresses property values and has cut into lot sales, the suit says. If it remains, it will open the door to more ugly buildings, the suit warns.

It also contends that Korowotny is running a business from the garage that violates a covenant saying that no noxious or offensive trade activities can take place.

Korowotny is an engineer who designs small electronic custom-car parts for high-performance Ford engines. The parts are made to order elsewhere and sent to him. He then ships them to customers.

The suit also claims that Korowotny has failed to complete a house within a year of the beginning of construction, which infuriates him.

He says he also spent his life savings to buy his 10 acres and build the garage. He had planned to use the property as collateral to take out a loan to build his dream house, but then the neighbors sued. That's a red flag for banks, which now will not give the Korowotnys a loan to build a house.

Korowotny's house in an equestrian neighborhood in Cherokee County was already sold. With no place to live, he built a cramped, 800-square-foot apartment inside the garage for his family — wife Jamie and their 4-month-old son.

The Korowotnys accuse the association of trying to enforce the covenants selectively against him, while others, especially those pushing the lawsuit, get a pass.

He says, for example, that another neighborhood resident has lived in a trailer while building his yet unfinished house and that others in the neighborhood also have home offices. What's more, the garage, he says, is not prefabricated but was built on site.

Read before you buy

The tense situation has dragged on. The Korowotnys are determined to keep the building; Salinas and some others are just as determined to see it go.

The only thing the lawyers agree on is that the situation might have been avoided if the covenants were better written or if a review committee had been in place early on.

John Lueder, a specialist in the field of neighborhood association law with Weissman, Nowack, Curry & Wilco of Atlanta, says typical covenants for metro Atlanta neighborhoods take up about 20 pages. They should be broad enough to allow some freedoms but tight enough to protect neighborhood property values, he says.

And associations should put architectural review committees in place early to interpret and rule on specific cases, Lueder says.

He says he is surprised at how often buyers don't bother reading covenants carefully before signing to buy a home.

Morris Martin, Korowotny's lawyer, agrees.

"Review those thoroughly and make sure you understand what they say," he advises. "If it appears too loose, they may find their money going to try to enforce vague and poorly written covenants."

Even when her legal troubles are resolved, Jamie Korowotny says her dream of raising her family in a rural mountain setting is gone.

"Regardless of how it turns out, [the neighbors] are never going to be friends," she says. "The people next to us and across from us are going to hate us until one of us dies. That's fun? That's living? It is just a waste."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: neighbor; propertyrights; zoning
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FRANK NIEMEIR/AJC STAFF Scott Korowotny's car collection includes this 1972 Ford LTD full-size convertible, which the Ford buff is restoring. His family also lives in the garage.
1 posted on 02/23/2004 11:27:32 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife; abbi_normal_2; Ace2U; Alamo-Girl; Alas; alfons; alphadog; amom; AndreaZingg; ...
Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.
2 posted on 02/23/2004 11:28:43 PM PST by farmfriend ( Isaiah 55:10,11)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
>>The only thing the lawyers agree on is that the situation might have been avoided if the covenants were better written or if a review committee had been in place early on.<<

And the only thing I agree on is buying COVENENT FREE property. On general priciples, I can't stand these 'home owners' associations' that are all the more prevelant as time goes by. Hide-bound, petty Hitlers run them, for the most part.
Glad we bought in civilized area...and enough property to not have to look at any neighbor that 'offends' by daring to have different tastes or needs.
3 posted on 02/23/2004 11:41:46 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (The world needs more horses, and fewer Jackasses!)
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To: farmfriend
Their lifes dream is to tell other people what to do?
4 posted on 02/23/2004 11:42:23 PM PST by GeronL (http://www.ArmorforCongress.com......................Send a Freeper to Congress!)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
If living across from a garage "ruins your life"- you have more issues than I can even imagine.
5 posted on 02/23/2004 11:43:45 PM PST by richmwill
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To: ApplegateRanch
My gut reaction is, the garage builder should have considered the homes in the area and bought land where his business would not run contrary to other people's investments. Call it common courtesy or common sense. Why go out of your way to create problems and conflict? Life is too short and they'll be doing battle for years.
6 posted on 02/23/2004 11:48:57 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
I'd say Korowotny acted in good faith and the neighbors are just being petty.

If the plaintiffs in this suit don't like the way the garage (built to covenant spec) looks, I'd say let 'em pony up the cash to give it a "prettier" exterior. Otherwise, they can take a long walk off a short pier.
7 posted on 02/23/2004 11:51:13 PM PST by Prime Choice (I'm pro-choice. I just think the "choice" should be made *before* having sex.)
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To: GeronL
Apparently.

I hate the whole idea of these homeowner associations. Usually one busy body in the group decides it's their purpose in life to nitpick what others do with their property. If there is any justice in the world, the judge who hears the case will tell them to go to hell, or say 'if you want his garage to have a different exterior appearance, you can pay for the cost of changing it'.
8 posted on 02/23/2004 11:59:18 PM PST by flashbunny (Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.)
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To: flashbunny
I agree

Anybody remember the 0 Cents stamps??

RINOHunter

9 posted on 02/24/2004 12:01:07 AM PST by GeronL (http://www.ArmorforCongress.com......................Send a Freeper to Congress!)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
A difficult situation. I have to say that I wouldn't like to stare at that out my window either. I've lived all over the states and this time made sure I bought an older home in an established neighborhood so there would be no surprises. I was tired of dealing with it. I've watched the value of several houses plunge because of garages and other eyesores over the years.
10 posted on 02/24/2004 12:08:44 AM PST by ETERNAL WARMING (SHUT THE DOOR IN 2004!)
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To: ETERNAL WARMING
...I bought an older home in an established neighborhood so there would be no surprises.

That does afford some protection.

11 posted on 02/24/2004 12:17:56 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Scott Korowotny's car collection includes this 1972 Ford LTD

A '72 LTD is part of a "collection"?

Hmmm. . . maybe I can sell him part of my "collection".

12 posted on 02/24/2004 12:41:38 AM PST by Flyer (Don't abandon our military - Re-elect President Bush!)
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To: Flyer
LOL
13 posted on 02/24/2004 12:59:39 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife; All
Maybe I'm just young and iggnerunt, but...

Who bloody cares what someone else builds on their own property?!? If I were buying a house, I can't imagine letting something like someone else's buildings bothering me. If I wanted to be so anal that I insisted on controlling the view outside my window, I have the perfectly legal option of buying all the property within eyesight.

It's important to me that I have a nice clean car. I wash and vacuum out my car regularly, and it annoys me when my car gets dirty or rained on. I guess I should be able to demand that every car I drive around be washed regularly, or I should be able to force those drivers to go and buy new cars. After all, the rest of the world should have to bow to my personal preferences regarding anything I see, hear, smell, or touch. < /sarcasm >
14 posted on 02/24/2004 1:46:04 AM PST by FreedomFlynnie (Your tagline here, for just pennies a day!)
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To: flashbunny

15 posted on 02/24/2004 2:35:37 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: FreedomFlynnie

Can't we just all get along?

16 posted on 02/24/2004 2:44:51 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: farmfriend
BTT!!!!!!
17 posted on 02/24/2004 3:06:21 AM PST by E.G.C.
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
The same rules are vague when describing what buildings — garages or houses — must look like. Four short paragraphs govern building materials, size, colors and locations. And they say metal siding is OK.




This says it all - the rules are vague, written to allow people some broad measure of choice on what's built on their property.

The whiners are typical of big city socialist scum moving into a pleasant rural community and trying to impose their Marxist controls on normal people. We have a few of these morons in our community. They're shrill, screaming nincompoops who live isolated and bitter, mumbling to themselves as they aimlessly walk in circles shaking their fists at imaginary monsters. We mostly ignore them. If they get out of control, we exert community pressure to chase them back into their $300,000 dungeons.
18 posted on 02/24/2004 4:48:21 AM PST by sergeantdave (Gen. Custer wore an Arrowsmith shirt to his last property owner convention.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
I agree. He built the garage first and not just any garage, an ugly industrial building that is waaaayyy out of place for the neighborhood.
19 posted on 02/24/2004 5:55:42 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
And so many think the homeowners are the bullies. Good grief.
20 posted on 02/24/2004 7:04:56 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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