In stucco world, some prefer stone

A neighbor calls a suburban renovation 'the medieval castle.'


 

Article Courtesy of Orlando Sentinel

By Jim Stratton
Posted on May 17, 2005

 

In the suburban empire of Ashbury Park, Larry Gies is pushing hard to prove a man's home is his castle -- and much of the kingdom is not amused.

Gies, a 62-year-old business owner, wants to renovate his two-story home on Osman Avenue. And Gies has a whole new look in mind for his pale stucco home -- something that breaks from the Conway neighborhood's muted palette of eggshell, off-white and dusty peach.

He wants to cover the house in a tannish stone facade; a look that some neighbors say would be fine for a Connecticut farmhouse. But here, they say, the renovation would stick out like an El Camino up on blocks.

"I call it the 'medieval castle,' " said Christine Williams, who lives around the corner from Gies. "I think it'll be completely out of place in the neighborhood."

The community's architectural-review committee and its homeowners association agreed.

They rejected Gies' request, saying the stone facing would be too radical of a departure from the rest of the neighborhood.

Gies, who bought the home in 2002, sees it differently.

"It would be beautiful," he said. "I'd really be raising the bar for the neighborhood."

So far, all the project has raised is a ruckus. Gies and the Ashbury Park Homeowners Association are locked in a bitter legal battle.

Association President Don Schaus says that when he has gone to his mailbox, Gies has shouted obscenities at him, using "language I'm not sure a sailor would understand."

Gies, who was cited last year by the city for starting the project without proper permits, admits cursing once. But he says he was responding to attacks on his home and project. He portrays Schaus, with whom he has butted heads on other issues, as a tyrant.

He "views his authority as unlimited," Gies said. "It's unbelievable."

So far, Gies estimates that he has spent about $20,000 in legal fees -- and he's gearing up to spend more.

Schaus says his group, which got an injunction to stop Gies' work, has spent about $10,000. It owes another $20,000 to attorneys.

At a neighborhood meeting early this month, officials asked homeowners to pay a special fee to cover the legal bills. The motion failed by three votes.

"It's a just debt that was created in good faith," Schaus said. "We have to pay it."

Schaus blames Gies for the sea of red ink, saying his stubbornness has nearly bankrupted the association. He also said the homeowners association has no choice but to continue the fight.

If the group rolls over now, Schaus said, it'll have no way to stop the next project that doesn't meet the standards of the 118-home neighborhood. To fight Gies, the association has hired a law firm that on its Web site touts the "Pounder" -- an "aggressive demand letter" that instructs wayward homeowners to "come into compliance" or face the consequences.

"There's a set of documents and rules, and we all got them when we moved in," said Schaus, who lives two doors down from Gies. "This particular situation absolutely violates them."

Many subdivisions and planned communities have deed restrictions that tell owners what's acceptable and what's not. Designed to protect property values, they include the general -- requiring residents to maintain their yards -- and the remarkably specific: The Villages in Lake County, for example, restricts the type of garbage bags residents can use.
Gies said he has no problem with abiding by deed restrictions and covenants. But in this case, he said, the association is attempting to rob him of his property rights. The reasons officials gave in rejecting his renovation, he said, "were completely arbitrary and capricious."

"They said it was 'not harmonious' with the rest of the neighborhood."

The explanation was so vague, Gies said, it was meaningless. Absent a more compelling reason to abandon the project, he said, he won't give up.

"Everything I've done so far," Gies said, "is in preparation for a trial."

Meanwhile, both sides have been ordered into mediation with the hope that a compromise is possible. The subjects of Ashbury Park shouldn't hold their breath.

"I will never consent to be governed by the whims of men," Gies said. "I'd rather die than submit to that."

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