They Say There Are Two Sides to Every Story

But it seems a singular occurrence when the two sides are being told by the same person, which was apparently the case with the builder’s plans for Phase II.  Subsequent to his purchase of the lots, he would describe his plans differently depending on who was asking the question.  For advertising and marketing purposes, he was selling significantly larger houses, built on four levels.  When anyone in the neighborhood would ask, he was building the exact same houses as the existing 2-car garage houses.

Curiosity in the neighborhood about what would become of the Phase II lots had been growing ever since BB&T took over the project from the original developer in 2009.  BB&T representatives had never committed to following through with Phase II.

Around the same time Mr. Davies (the builder/neighbor) purchased the remaining eight lots from the bank, some changes were made to the lots which heightened the general curiosity even more.  Where previously there had a been a gravel parking lot and some landscaping on the corner of the 8-lot parcel, now the sidewalk was completed, the parking lot and landscaping were removed, and the sign advertising new homes for sale  was moved closer to the street next to the sidewalk.

In late September 2012, at the HOA meeting where BB&T relinquished their board seat, a neighbor who lives across the street from the sign advertising the Phase II homes expressed concern about what had happened to the parking lot, and seemed to be frustrated with the lack of communication from Mr. Davies about what he was planning to build on those lots.

Mr. Davies was present at that meeting (wisely so, since he now had nine votes in the HOA and no doubt was concerned with who would be elected to two of three open board seats), and he attempted to address the neighbor’s concerns. He said that he would be building the “exact same houses, the same product” as the existing 2-car garage models. Since the tallest homes that currently exist in Overlook are three stories, one might reasonably conclude that “the same product” would be three stories as well.

About one week after that HOA meeting, in early October 2012, the builder’s construction company, and his realtor, issued a press release touting the new homes’ “four floors that burst with natural light, more than 3,300 square-feet of living space.” 

Later in October, another neighbor sent an open letter (by email) to the builder and all the neighbors asking for some answers about how the Phase II homes would compare with existing homes and plans.  He had received an email from the builder’s real estate agent announcing the sale of “4 story” homes in Phase II.  He wrote, “most of us would like to understand exactly how tall these buildings are now planned to be relative to what exists, and relative to the original plans.”

Mr. Davies responded:

To describe the homes as 4 story is very misleading.

The homes all have the exact same “footprint”… as shown on the site plan.

This email and his answer at the HOA meeting don’t correspond with his advertising and PR, and with the “plans” he had submitted for ARC approval on the day he bought the lots, which indicated the homes would be four levels.

And none of this seems to be a particularly “neighborly” course of conduct from a builder who lives on the same street with all of the neighbors who were looking for a straight answer about what he intended to build.