I gave him the summary in under 2 minutes. He was quiet for a moment, then don't confront anyone yet. Don't announce anything. Bring me everything you have and let me look at the documents first. I drove to his office the next morning with the plat map, the deed, and a printed copy of the assessor's call back notes.
That was the beginning of 18 months I would spend being very, very patient. The construction trailer appeared at the end of my gravel road on a Monday morning in March. It had the Lakeside Grand logo on the side, the same logo from Karen's architectural renderings, gold letters on navy blue, and behind it came two excavators, a concrete truck, and enough crew to make clear that whatever Karen had approved at that 11-person meeting was already fully in motion. By 7 that morning, she was at the site herself, hard hat on, walking the perimeter with a project manager who had a set of blueprints under his arm. She was there every morning that week.
She had told vendors the resort would open in 14 months. I drove down to see the site from my side of the property line, stood there for about 10 minutes, watched the excavators bite into the lakefront soil, my lakefront soil, as the county assessor had confirmed, and then drove back to my house and called Daniel Marsh. How do you want to handle the first move? I asked. Certified letter to the HOA board, he said.
Formal measured carbon copy to the county planning department. We document that we notified them before they went any further. Return receipt so we have proof of delivery. I told him to draft it. The letter went out two days later.
Daniel had written it carefully. No accusations, no legal threats, just a formal notification that the 14 acre lakefront parcel currently under active development did not appear in county deed records as HOA property and a request that all construction activity halt immediately pending legal clarification of title. He'd signed it as my council. I'd signed it as the owner of record. Return receipt requested.
3 days passed. Karen did not respond through the board. She did not respond through an attorney. She did not respond in writing at all. On the fourth morning, I was in my kitchen when I heard gravel crunching on the road.
I looked out the window. Karen's car was parked at my property line. She was standing outside it holding what looked like a printout. Two board members were with her. I recognized them both from a neighborhood meeting Beverly had described to me months earlier.
I walked out. Karen was already talking before I reached her. "You need to retract this letter," she said, holding up the printout—my letter. You have 30 days. If you don't retract it, the HOA will file a halfm million dollar nuisance lawsuit against you.