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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