05/17/1999 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regular Council Meeting 5-17-99 Page 3 Mr. Samac said he does not recall turning anyone down and does not know who that may have been. Mayor Rinker asked if Mr. Basile's neighbor went through a formal process or if it was aformal application. Mr. Basile said it may have been a conversation. Mayor Rinker said what he is hearing from the Law Director is that we don't often face an issue like this. This is kind of new for all of us. It is not dissimilar to other issues that can arise between property owners. While you have come forward and are giving us information, we accept that seriously--what I am also hearing from the Law Director is that we are going to dissatisfy somebody. We will either respond to people who come to us citing language from a deed saying we are supposed to exercise discretion to enforce a private deed restriction that our own codes don't require us to do--and by that--if we expose ourselves--then we will hear the other person come forward and explain that person's plight. Mr. Diemert said he had run into this in another community. What we could do, maybe, is stop the job if you people (the homeowners) felt they would do something shortly. Mr. Basile said we will. Mr. Diernert said you have the right to enforce deed restrictions. This is probably enforceable; it is lawfully entered into. He does not see it being against public policy, so they would probably win if they went to court. The problem is we don't have the standing to go to Court since we are not part of the agreement that everybody entered into when they moved into that neighborhood. We could, maybe, put the pernut on suspension for a week or so to give you some time to go do something about it. Mr. Schultz said Mayfield Village has set a precedent by the previous Building Commissioner, Gus, who refused their next door neighbor tliis very same thing. Mr. Amendola refused on the basis of there was a restriction on the record on the subdivision. Mayor Rinker said to reiterate what the Law Director is saying, if we intervene (and become part of the project) and it is not something that necessarily we should do or that we are supposed to do.... Mr. Schultz said the precedent was set. Mayor Rinker said each case is different and must be taken on its own merit. You have a right to present that to a judge. A judge may agree with you and say there is some legal precedent; I suspect there is not. We are trying to encourage people to look to all the amenities that we have in the Village. He is frankly Tooking around his neighborhood (and it is an older neighborhood than Metro Park) and people are remodeling. He guesses the question is what is aesthetically