By Tommy Britt –

Last month I wrote about the DRCC’s new approval process that requires an on-site visit with the owner and contractor. During a variance request we discovered that some property owners and contractors had taken liberties, honest and not so honest, and snuck a few things by us.

We accepted the lion’s share of blame because, quite frankly, our approval process had been handled in a very hands off fashion. The entire process was generally conducted through e-mails with little to no personal interaction between us and the applicant.  As elected stewards of the Deed Restrictions, we could have done a better job of declaring our seriousness to enforce the document.

No one takes you seriously unless you project it and so far that new policy looks like it is the remedy for a few of our problems.

This actually brings me to the subject I intended to write about. I’ve written numerous time about the dirt in our humble little neighborhood becoming more and more expensive. Individuals and contractors are paying unheard of sums for the privilege of tearing down the old and replacing it with a new home.

That reality has its good and bad points. No matter which side you fall on, the bottom line is change is coming a rapid pace. Change is messy, annoying, and sometimes dangerous but mostly it is an inconvenience. Inconsiderate workers who leave litter and take liberties with your property, mud from the trucks, the never ending POW, POW, POW of the nail guns, blocked driveways are the main culprits and the ones we hear about the most.

There is nothing wrong with you insisting on a reasonably clean work site or free egress and ingress of your driveway. You should not expect the nail guns to get cranked up before 7:00 AM. You also have the right to not allow the workers to take their lunch breaks in your front yard. Every contractor I have had the opportunity to visit with about these issues were in complete agreement with the complaints and worked to resolve them quickly. That said, don’t be afraid to call the contractor or property owner and voice your concerns. Almost all of these issues are covered under city code so the contractors don’t want us resolving them through an official process. The property owner plans to live here and doesn’t want to get off on the wrong foot.  In both cases they have all been receptive and cooperative.

That doesn’t mean you or I may not have to revisit the issue over the long months to come. Sub-contractors come and go as do the different trade crafts. Just because you got it straightened out with the foundation crew doesn’t mean the framing crew or the roofing crew got the word.

Be persistent. Be patient. Be reasonable. As they say, this too shall pass.