Article Courtesy of The Forum Publishing Group

By Jane Musgrave

June 10, 2009

A difference of 3 feet could cost Martin and Sheila Glass $20,000.

But at this point, the suburban Boynton Beach couple said, it may be worth it.

"We've been lambasted, bombasted and held in such disdain," Sheila Glass said. "If I could afford it, I would give this house to a poor family."

Like so many other homeowner disputes in South Florida, the Glasses' troubles began with a home improvement project. They wanted to put a screened porch on their home in Aberdeen Golf & Country Club so their cat could go outside without being eaten by an alligator from a nearby pond.

Shortly after the $4,000 backyard porch went up, they were served a lawsuit, demanding that it come down. The screened roof extends 3 feet above the house roof, a violation of association rules, says the lawsuit filed by the property owners association.

While the association signed off on the plans, it claims the Glasses changed them.

"It's ridiculous," Martin Glass said. "We didn't draw up the plans. Our contractor did."

Further, Sheila Glass said, standing on the porch and pointing, their porch is identical to one on the far side of the pond.

The difference, said association attorney David Core, is the other porch is attached to a home in one of Aberdeen's 25 other communities. In Waterford, where the Glasses live, it's not allowed.

Core acknowledged that the dispute may sound silly: "When you look at it from the outside, you think, 'This is crazy.'"

But, he said, if the association doesn't enforce all of its rules, eventually it won't be able to enforce any of them.

"Pretty soon you're living in a neighborhood of purple houses," he said.

The Glasses are convinced the dispute has little to do with protecting the community and much to do with vindictiveness by those who simply don't like them.

"We've been accused of being liars and cheats," Sheila Glass said. "We've been ostracized."

She would love to sell the house. But the economy, coupled with an association rule that requires any buyer to pay at least $2,000 plus nearly $7,500 in annual dues to join the country club, makes it impossible.

Instead, she said she is nearly ready to accept the association's offer to end the lawsuit that has already cost them $4,000. They would pay the association's estimated $8,000 legal bill, rip down the porch and put up a new one with a pitched roof.