Helping Clients Make Their Neighborhoods Great Places to Live

“Tear down that wall!” – Good Fences Don’t Necessarily Make Good Neighbors, Part II

At the end of last year, we wrote about the case of Ruth Dwyer of Thetford, Vermont, who constructed a 60-foot-by-24-foot partition, consisting of cloth strung across multiple utility poles, to block her view of her neighbor, Patrick Perry’s house, and the light from his television, both of which she claims offends her sensibilities.

That partition put her in violation of the Thetford zoning bylaw, which requires a permit for fences of greater than 10 feet.  Dwyer retroactively applied for a permit, which, after our last blog post, was denied.  Although Dwyer appealed the decision to the Development Review Board, she failed to appear at hearings and the Board recently upheld the determination of the zoning administrator.  Dwyer was ordered to remove the wall, and has been fined $200 per day by the Town since March 12, 2015.  Meanwhile, Perry has now asked the Town to demolish the structure, since Dwyer refuses.

Unsurprisingly, Perry has been advised that it would be “somewhat difficult” to sell his property with Dwyer’s structure in place.

For more, see the Valley News