A brouhaha between neighbors in the Bayport Villas in the Village of Buttonwood began over a disagreement over a Bottlebrush tree.
In a public hearing Friday before Community Development District 8 supervisors, Gloria Fealy was denied an appeal of an earlier Architectural Review Committee decision against her. During her appeal, Fealy lashed out at her neighbors who had lodged complaints against her. She said they had made her life “hell.” She claimed they were manipulating the complaint system to make her life difficult. You can read about Friday’s public hearing HERE
The neighbors, Scott and Lou Woodward, were unaware the public hearing had been scheduled and learned about Fealy’s remarks on Saturday morning when they were reading the morning edition of Villages-News.com. The Woodwards, who moved in three years ahead of Fealy, were eager to tell their side of the story.
“In May of 2015, our neighbor told us she was planting a Weeping Bottlebrush tree 2-3 feet from our house. We had the same tree in our back yard in Wellington, FL and it is 30-40 feet tall, so we were very concerned and expressed that to our neighbor. Turns out in The Villages that tree is expected to grow to 15-20 feet tall and 15-20 feet wide and should not be planted closer than 8 feet to a house. When we told our neighbor of our concerns, she dismissed them saying she would keep the tree trimmed,” Scott Woodward said.
“We then obtained a picture of the tree at our old address and showed it to her and another neighbor who saw the picture at the same time, became angry with my wife and told her it was not a Weeping Bottlebrush tree. My wife yelled back at him and left. Later that day I told the neighbor that we were concerned about any damage the tree might do to our house. Our next door neighbor then planted the tree 6 feet from our house, and stopped talking to us. She also started telling neighbors that she was afraid of us,” he said.
Within a year, Fealy started planting a privacy hedge close enough to the Woodwards’ garage to limit their access to the side of their house.
“She planted this hedge over several days in the middle of the night. To us, this was telling us to screw off and that she was going to do as she pleased. We then contacted Community Standards and were told that privacy hedges are not allowed and any plants cannot be closer than 2 feet from our house,” Woodward said.
Fealy was called before the Architectural Review Committee who gave her six months to bring the hedge into compliance by keeping it trimmed and at least 2 feet from the Woodwards’ house.
“After six months, the hedge was still not in compliance and we called Community Standards again. They asked for pictures and upon seeing the pictures, found several other violations. We told Community Standards the hedge and any plants not in compliance were our only concern, but they still filed the additional violations. So, the fact that she was hit with additional violations is a direct result of her failure to comply with the original violation regarding the hedge,” Woodward said.
He was also eager to tell his side of the trespass order story.
“As for the police being called that was a result of the other neighbor starting a yelling match with my wife. When we tried to discuss this with this neighbor, the neighbor only wanted my wife to admit she was wrong and proceeded to kick us out of the neighbor’s house. This ate at me and over a year later I cussed the neighbor out and he called the police. I was never closer than 20 feet to the neighbor and no threat. The police informed us that it is not against the law to cuss someone out, but the 2 neighbors issued a no trespass order against us, even though we have never been on either of their properties since the incident with the tree,” he said.
The Woodwards issued a no trespass order of their own. They said it “infuriated” the second neighbor.
In Friday’s hearing, Fealy was told to bring her property into compliance. Supervisors, who expressed sympathy for Fealy, asked Community Standards to work with Fealy in her efforts to come into compliance.
“This neighbor is trying to win sympathy by stretching the truth,” Woodward added.
