Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our wonderful neighbors built an addition a few years ago. We all get along great but, really, that construction project really strained our relationship for awhile. After all, as their immediate neighbors, we had to put up with a lot of the headaches with none of the benefits. For instance, trucks backing down our shared driveway (beeping away) at 7 am, a porta-john on the line between our front yards, strange workers / trucks coming down the driveway ALL THE TIME (no way I could leave DC out there for even a few seconds to ride his bike), noise, noise, and more noise (even on the weekends - neighbor tried to keep all the work to the work week but, when the contractors ran short on time, they were hammering away on Sunday mornings too)! Their yard, which borders ours, was ripped up so all water flowed to our grass, leaving huge puddles. All the additional traffic on the shared drive resulted in cracks and divots. Thus, we all had to go in and reasphalt the drive when the work was completed. In the end, it was very, very difficult for us. They had a beautiful new addition and we had built-up resentment that we needed to sock away for the sake of peaceful living. All this to say, your neighbors should talk to you - yes. BUT you really need to consider their feelings and peace of mind. Just because your Architectural Review Board says it's okay, doesn't mean that the neighbors are particularly happy with your choices. It just means that they know that there is little they can do to stop it. Our neighbors did their best to go out of their way to make it easier on us (even if there was little they COULD do most of the time -- after all, they couldn't live in their house so they weren't even onsite most of the time!)) but it was still very difficult.

This is the typical bitter attitude of the bethesda bungalow dwellers. They will get all pissy if you decide to build a normal sized house (they call it a mcmansion) on your own property. It's not our fault you want a midget house or can't afford a bigger one.

Anonymous wrote:So....should we all forgo any sort of remodeling so that we don't inconvenience our neighbors with noise or trucks or porta potties on our property during the day?

Anonymous wrote:Our wonderful neighbors built an addition a few years ago. We all get along great but, really, that construction project really strained our relationship for awhile. After all, as their immediate neighbors, we had to put up with a lot of the headaches with none of the benefits. For instance, trucks backing down our shared driveway (beeping away) at 7 am, a porta-john on the line between our front yards, strange workers / trucks coming down the driveway ALL THE TIME (no way I could leave DC out there for even a few seconds to ride his bike), noise, noise, and more noise (even on the weekends - neighbor tried to keep all the work to the work week but, when the contractors ran short on time, they were hammering away on Sunday mornings too)! Their yard, which borders ours, was ripped up so all water flowed to our grass, leaving huge puddles. All the additional traffic on the shared drive resulted in cracks and divots. Thus, we all had to go in and reasphalt the drive when the work was completed. In the end, it was very, very difficult for us. They had a beautiful new addition and we had built-up resentment that we needed to sock away for the sake of peaceful living. All this to say, your neighbors should talk to you - yes. BUT you really need to consider their feelings and peace of mind. Just because your Architectural Review Board says it's okay, doesn't mean that the neighbors are particularly happy with your choices. It just means that they know that there is little they can do to stop it. Our neighbors did their best to go out of their way to make it easier on us (even if there was little they COULD do most of the time -- after all, they couldn't live in their house so they weren't even onsite most of the time!)) but it was still very difficult.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's very Bethesda. As soon as daughter is out of school, we are getting the h*ll out. I can't stand it.

2.) The neighbor with the string never takes care of the yard. It looks like cr*p! Sticks everywhere, crab grass, cable wire sticking out of the ground, uneven patches of grass and dirt.

3.) We are approachable and have worked before with the neighbors complaining about water runoff. Did they need to go behind our backs with big attorney mouths?

Bleech.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, OP. Sad - your neighbors' concerns are legitimate and normal, and what happened to courtesy, level-headedness and common sense to start out by contacting you directly? Would have been so easy and more productive, too.

As for the drainage, a hypothetical question for you. If they had come to you directly, what would you have done to respond to their questions? Could you still do it and pro-actively approach them? I have seen construction drainage issues affect neighbors (I'm in Bethesda too). My guess is that the county does not always catch problems in the permitting phase. Perhaps that is your neighbors' concern; nothing personal, they just want to be sure. Or, let the county spend the money to re-review the plans.

I would contact the neighbors so this doesn't spiral any more. For the parking issue. If you want to be strict with your contractor about where the workers can walk/park and or how courteous they are to neighbors, you can choose to be. And if your neighbor wants you to do this, they would do well to talk to you instead of just putting up string.

Anonymous wrote:I don't see the problem with your neighbor marking her yard with string. Have you seen the damage construction workers can do to a yard? Who cares if you brought in her mail, etc. That was very nice of you, but the marking of her yard has nothing to do with you - it has to do with the workers. BFD.