It's simple, does the homeowners association rules that he signed when he bought the house say no boats parked at your house? If not it stays...if it does it goes.

If he got permission from the city he should be grandfathered in against any changes. Again, as long as he can provide documentation.

You own a property, but you are told what you can and can not do. Freedom isn't free, because it doesn't exist.

Exactly, ERD! Instead of wasting their energy whining and moaning about this man's project, why don't they go lend him a hand? Never mind.....they'd have to come out into fresh air to do that.

If the kids (if any) in the neighborhood should (God forbid) see a man working on restoring an historic boat, it might inspire them to actually take up projects and work. If you read books such as "Rascal" by Jack London, you might find that it is an American tradition to restore boats. This boat is not an eyesore; it is not a car up on blocks. And as for the cost of the houses in the neighborhood: this is precisely what is tearing our economy apart. The building of numerous mansions brought Rome down, because there were not enough people left to either build projects or to join the military; everybody just built big estates. If everybody in America had modest houses that cost a modest amount, and concentrated on working instead of "earning" dividends, our country would be much stronger. I hope that he is able to appeal this very unfair decision. Maybe California has an historical society that could speak up for him? If not, that speaks a whole lot about California... cars and no museums?

I had an old Porsche I did some restoration work on over a period of six years in my driveway. It was never on blocks, but I did throw a tarp over it when the weather looked rainy. Nobody ever complained.

neighbors took their concerns to the city and now Holland is facing a court order

If there wasn't a township ordinance prior to the court order couldn't Dennis Holland usurp a grandfather clause injunction? Otherwise the neighbors are really going to love the low-boy semi trailers' they are going to need to move the Shawnee!

Judging by the comments, I'm going to go on a limb and say 90% of the people posting here haven't ever been to Newport Beach. A $1 Million home there isn't exactly a mansion, and a huge chunk of the residents that live in those neighborhoods have owned their homes, or had their homes in their families, long before those places were anywhere close to million dollar homes.

I think this man's project is a cool addition to the neighborhood, but he should have had the permission of all neighbors before moving a restoration project / eyesore into the area. They have a right to be pissed.

They do have the right to be pissed, but:

"Before accepting the project, Holland won the city’s approval to restore the boat in the yard outside his home on a residential street in Newport Beach"

So let me get this straight. According to the article, he got permission from the city in 2006 to store the boat at his house yet in 2009 the city passed an ordinance that you need a permit to do so. Isnt he grandfathered in since he got that permission in 2006? Am I missing something, like say, maybe common sense?

This guy should be grandfathered in because his project started well before the ordinance came into play; as for any others, they'll need to get a permit. Let him finish what he was allowed to start and move on people.

Got to love what rich people fight about. Don't take me wrong, I wish I was there fighting too.

This is what I'd do if I won the lottery, move into a town like that and DESTROY IT and the neighbors. I'd so tie them up in litigation that their worthless spawn to the third generation would STILL be paying lawyers' bills.

And I'd enjoy every single minute of making them suffer to point of broken health and mental illness and abject poverty. Couldn't think of a better use of lottery money than harassing the rich to their graves.

I would be happy to have a man such as this living next to me. I too appreciate antique and historic items, such as cars, boats and buildings. To watch them be restored, and to learn about their history from my neighbor would like having a museum right next door.

Homeowners Association- group of self important scumbags who feel the need to address their own inadequacies by making other people miserable; gang of scumbags, piss poor excuses for human beings

To AG99, they own their homes, not his. To me a perfectly manicured lawn and a paved driveway is an eyesore and represents destruction of the natural environment. Also, Newport is a town steeped in sailing history. These people should have considered that before buying there. It is similar to those people who buy a home next to a farm, and then complain because it smells like manure!

If he moved it there in 2006 and they passed the law..probably to deal with him..in 2009 then he is grandfathered in. If he brings it to court he will win. Or...just register the boat and pay taxes on it and they can say nothing since then it is a registered vehicle and the town had no jurisdiction.

Bunch of dumbasses. Leave the old man alone. You unimaginative bored snobs are so concerned with a neighbor's property, why don't YOU move to one of those stupid gated communities where they don't allow pickup trucks in the driveway. It's an F'ing beach community. An old boat fits.

To Boom, Jodeman, and Citizen Frank: Originally he did have a permit. When it came time to renew the permit, he was not able to meet their requirements and so his permit expired. The problem is apparently that they require a fixed time frame (meaning, "I'll have it done by X day" or perhaps even "between X month and X month") and he was only able to give them an approximate date range of X years (plural). That is why he's in the trouble he's in now. If he'd given them a fixed and reasonable time estimate he would have likely gotten his permit renewed and not have this problem (an open-ended permit on a project like this is a baaaad idea; what's to stop the permit-holder from NEVER finishing the project?). I sympathize with him very much (my father has cancer), and I understand the desire to finish that boat himself and really see it through (and to save money by doing it in his yard). But this is no different than if your neighbor decided to take on project cars and have them constantly half-completed in his yard. It's an eye-sore and it drives down their property values (as others have pointed out, you're paying for the view, not the quality of the property), which is hardly fair of him to do, regardless of whether he sees the same decrease himself. Sentimentality doesn't excuse him being such a poor neighbor.

NOAH!

Heck with global warming, there might be flooding in Southern California, you think these neighbors might like a nice arc to board when that happens? Now he's not going to let them on-board.

Hey his neighbors are worried when he is done restoring that boat, it'll be worth more than their million dollar homes including his.

Did anyone else notice this sentence which completely debunks the entire premise of the article.
"Before accepting the project, Holland won the city's approval to restore the boat in the yard outside his home on a residential street in Newport Beach"
Which is it MSNBC, did he have city approval or not?

This was grandfathered in, and the city trying to back out on that deal is quite shoddy.

That said, um, I'm not too sure I'd want to live next door to this:

Why is the theme from Sanford & Son suddenly playing in my head? :)

Ahoy maties!!!! Avast ye wealthy swabs and be done with your excessive lifestyles or be cast adrift at the mercy of the tides....Arrrrghhhh.

Yes I know several people who left and moved to the east coast to escape all the rules and regulations. One gut I worked with said he could get fined even if he left his garage door open at night or did not maintain the bushes in his front yard. It was crazy and as soon as he had kids he sold the place as fast as he could

Let's see, he got permission from the city to work on the boat in his yard in 2006. In 2009, the law changed and he had to provide a firm date for completion. Everybody talks about grandfathering him in. I have an even more pertinent expression: ex post facto. It appears that what the city is trying to do is a violation of the ex post facto protection written into Article I of the U.S. Constitution - in two separate places. This is not in an amendment, but in the original unamended (spelling?) Constitution.

If I was his neighbor, I'd love to help him work on it.

It's not a piece of junk in the front yard (the amber tone of the African mahogany, the intricate teak woodwork.").

I'm the last person to ever use the "class warfare" crap, but reading some of these comments on here is just sad. You guys act like the people of Newport wipe their butts with money and then tip the little people with crap-filled benjamins. I've spent a lot of time in Newport Beach, its a really cool beach town with relaxed people. A lot of the people there have lived there for 10 - 30+ years.

Like it or not, the man lives in a neighborhood where this project has an effect on home values. The city's permit should have mandated approval being based on a winning vote from his neighbors. This issue is no different than the basic HOA issues people all over the country face. As much as we all hate the HOAs, they actually do serve a purpose.

As much as I like the idea of sticking it to the rich, I'm not sure I'd want a neighbor turning his property into a junkyard, which is what this guy seems to be doing. That would drive my property value down, and that's not just an academic concern or some fru-fru finicky stuff about an "eyesore". For most homeowners, their home in addition to being a residence is also a semi nest egg to cash in on during an emergency, either via sale or taking out a mortgage on it. Driving my property value down isn't just about aesthetics: it's literally taking money out of my pocket.

That's the kind of thing that calls for drastic self-help solutions like arson :D

So torn: common sense and decency/ good neighborliness on the one hand; shafting the rich on the other.

Sigh

...and he isn't going to be around much longer, so just put up with it, get over it, and next time have better zoning laws the first time instead of crying ex post facto.

Out with the old, in with the young, and I don't just mean boats. If this guy wants to turn a high-class neighborhood into a junk yard, he can do it in Arizona. He would fit right in there. But not California. Let him move himself and his junk elsewhere.

Alrighty, then. Sounds like you and the rest of the D-bags in this neighborhood should get together and whine about your nails and other "important" things. He got permission from the local government and NOW they want to change their minds? The a-holes in California are the ones who destroyed the housing market with their over-inflated property estimates in the first place. Get bent. This guy WOULD be better off in Arizona where they have some decency and common sense....

How neighborly these people in Newport beach are......they have an aging cancer patient as a neighbor, who is trying to save a piece of history, and the best they can do is go complain to the city, get the rules changed, and screw him out of the permission he got to begin with. Doesn't seem very moral and neighborly to me. Perhaps if he had neighbors that offered to help him the project would go faster?

You are so worried about him messing up your property values? I didn't see you on the front line protesting against Wall Street when they screwed over our entire country's home values. Seems like your priorities are a little out of place........

Yeh, but I bet he isn't rich, nor does he have a councilor(s) in his pocket.

yeah but it looks like it's been six years and he has yet to even 'start' the restoration. On top of the fact that he's only got a few years of slowly failing health to live out. Sometimes you just have to accept reality and let go of the past and face the present.

Phil, the dude lives in Newport Beach and restores antique yachts for a hobby. You bet he isn't rich? Mmmkay.

rrobeson - When Holland goes, the boat can go, too. Until then, it's just snobbery vs. an end-of-life passion.

Detriot, that's were the mistake was in allowing him to move it to his property in the 1st place. They should have stipulated that it be moved to a warehouse type facility for the restoration...

First they tell him he can..............then they tell him he can't. Ah, Newport Beach. When the wind direction changes, so do the minds.

Optomyst, some times its better that way. In some areas when the wind changes direction, you can smell it.

Chris, Point taken, however I am guessing rich is a relative term ? :-)

Rrobeson, alternatively you could argue this poor bastard only has a few years left of declining health and this boat and his stuff makes him happy, let him enjoy the time he has in the way that suits him best but stipulate that the permit lapses on his death. Win win.

The town council approved him restoring the boat. After six years he has made NO progress. Look at the damn thing. SIX years and it can't even float.

Detroit Storm: in support of you, refer to my posting #1.33, above.

Ever think Devil, he might be restoring the expensive teak in the interior first???

Chris, there's a difference between a ketch and a yacht.

I'm with ya Jon. Just look at the facts and one can see the city council going back on their word. But what would one expect from a politcian...truth?

About ten years ago, the family that owned the ship fell on hard times and was no longer able to afford to maintain it.

Holland contacted the family ...

Before accepting the project, Holland won the city's approval to restore the boat in the yard outside his home on a residential street in Newport Beach.

Holland's ship violates an ordinance passed in 2009 requiring homeowners to obtain permits for projects such as his and give officials an estimated completion date.

What I would like to know is about those millionaires that are raising hell, when did they move into the neighborhood? Is it like someone buying a house that borders a freeway/highway and complaining about the noise. Oh, and I do live next to a highway (US 395)

The guy is going to kick the bucket in 4 years ( told in 2006 has 10 years to live)..let him try to finish his project that he loves..when he's dead..then haul it out of there.

I would hope that as long as there was visible progress in the restoration that the city would overlook the new regualtion '09 in favor fo their 2006 permission. On the other hand, if he is not actively improvinng the boat and is just trying to play "regulation gotcha" to jam up the city he should move it out of the neighborhood. The neighbors do not deserve to have a junk yard next door. But if he is getting the job done, then he should be allowed to finish in a reasonable time given they once gave him permission. Doing 200 hours of work a year is not an earnest effort, and probably would never finish the job. both sides ought to be fair about it.

That is a bit of a dark view there Mike, but you are right, let him fulfill that dream.

Isn't it in the constitution some where, the words "the pursuit of happiness". I guess only rich people can pursue their happiness, but when ordinary citizens try it, some damn law get in the way some how.

"Isn't it in the constitution some where, the words "the pursuit of happiness"..."

Actually, it is not.

Spike: Correct, it's not in the Constitution, it's in The Declaration of Independence and is noted to be "an unalienable right," i.e.: a sovereign human right. He was given permission, it's between his house and barn, don't like it? Look the other way.

It's worth noting that the idiot editor describes the BOAT as a SHIP. It's a 72' long ketch rigged SAILBOAT, hardly a ship by any description. As a child my neighbors kept their 55' sloop in their yard every winter, in a neighborhood where houses currently cost $7 million, and no one ever complained.

Also worth noting is that the whiners are anonymous. Stand up for your principles and say who you are or STFU.

I imagine if the restoration were going a little quicker....this wouldn't be an issue.

There is a stretch on the Paoli/Thorndale train line that passes through the Main Line area of Philadelphia. No matter what cell phone carrier you have, you will drop calls through this area because the ultra-rich people who live here have a ban on cell phone towers in their individual townships. Why? No one wants to see a cell phone tower near their property.

So many rich people are so disconnected from reality...and cell service apparently.

Will - if that's the case, either the subscribers or the carriers (or both) should have a good legal claim against the city zoning officials. While federal law allows local zoning decisions on towers, they cannot make decisions that "prohibit, or have the effect of prohibiting" the provision of mobile phone service. It's in the federal 1996 Telecommunications Act.

We fight those battles daily, and across the nation, for network development. The only folks that show up at the local hearings are the NIMBYs -- never mind that 98% of them use mobile devices. Trying to get anyone to show up and speak up in favor of better coverage is like pulling teeth.

The other option is to contact city officials and ask for changes in the local zoning ordinance. As it's written, clearly it isn't working. There is only so much the carriers and infrastructure companies can do on their own.

I realize this is a little off topic from the landowner and his boat restoration, but Will makes a good comparison. In both cases, there can be some accommodation and resolution. The sign of a good settlement is where both sides feel they've given up too much...

GCHD,

They are fretting over the same things that people in your neighborhood and mine fret over. The only difference is it's a boat, and not a 57 Chevy up on blocks.

We have too much "service" as it is... I'd rather not have 1000 foot towers showing up in my town even if it means taht god forbid I'm not connected 100% of the time. And i'm 29 btw not 59.

Not all in Newport Beach are rich. They just pretend to be.

Quite frankly, though, they probably should not have given the okay in the first place. Would you want that boat crammed in between houses? In Newport Beach, the homes are very, very close together.

Regarding cell towers........................last time we were in Mendocino, CA. there was no cell service because the people didn't want the towers. I guess towns have some say in the matter.

I find it amusing that they are creating a fuss over the boat, but no one complained about him moving a barn onto his property. Maybe he should put the boat inside the barn. Or maybe he should tell the homeowner's association to shove it. (That would be my preference.)

Basedrum: Show me a 1,000' cell tower and I'll show you a mirage. Very few radio or TV towers are 1,000' tall, and they're all guy-wired. Cell towers are more like 100' to 300' and are free standing. Around here a lot of them are mounted on power poles, and the carriers are "encouraged" to share the same tower instead of each having there own.

Incidentally if you happen to own a slightly higher piece of ground than the surrounding area, leasing it to a cell co. is usually quite lucrative. I have a friend with a farm and the deal he made was a bit like winning the lottery. He couldn't be happier and, surprise, his neighbors are happy for him (and probably a little bit envious.)

Anita,

Have you even visited his site? You know, the one in the photo?

Here's his site (it's a bit slow...probably due to high traffic b/c of this article):

http://saveshawnee.com/

But you might want to look at the restoration here:

http://saveshawnee.com/gallery/

Beautiful, inst it?

It's the city's fault for allowing him to move it to his yard...2006. We all know how some HOA's are

Thank you Julie.

Why are the neighbors so picky about the boat? Are they so full of hate? If I had the money, I would pay a million dollars to find nice neighbors, not neighbors that have hearts of stone.

Just from the photo with the article, it is obvious he has done quite a lot toward the restoration of this ship. He did, according to the article, acquire it when it was still in the water...

Oh, and just as a counterpoint here: THERE ARE NO POOR POEPLE IN NEWPORT BEACH, CA.

That is an excellent idea. What we need is more ideas that unite us instead of divide us.

So people who know little or nothing about boats should help him restore it? People who have their own hobbies and interests should sacrifice their time to help him restore it? People who have neither the talent or interest should shell out their own money to facilitate him hiring other people to do so? This different than doing the neighborly thing for someone who is recovering from medical treatment and mowing their lawn, clipping their hedges or shoveling their snow.

The neighbors did not object for 6 years. They showed patience and acceptance in the face of his personal interests and then his medical issues. At some point, they have a right to say they don't want this junk inflicted on them and they don't want to live next to a yard that looks like a hoarder lives there. He is also living in a "1 percenter" neighborhood and it can be assumed he is financially able to stay there. Pay the $30,000 a year rent to store it in a warehouse and restore it there.

Anita, no one is requiring them to. Get off your high horse, you are gonna hurt yourself when you fall. People should volunteer if they feel this is a worthwhile project. If not, it isn't. simple as that. But I suspect with this kind of coverage he will be getting volunteers, perhaps even donations for the restoration.

So you're one of those "million dollar" homeowners huh? Just guessing from your negative comments.

The neighbors did not object for 6 years. They showed patience and acceptance in the face of his personal interests and then his medical issues.

Nice ASS-umption Anita. I must have missed that in the story I read. As I stated above, these neighbors complaining, were they there when he brought the boat to his yard or after it was there? Who knows, the story doesn't answer that question or your ASS-umption.

I was giving you the benefit of the doubt in your previous post (where I ask if you even visited his site) but now see your true colors. How's the air up there?

The air down here, in my working class neighborhood where I struggled for 30 years before I was able to buy a 1300 square foot home, is fine because my other working class neighbors don't inflict their eyesores on each other for extended periods of time.

Interesting what judgemental assumptions people make about others who post an opinion but thank you for asking.

...and I did look at the link. While this may be amazing to someone who likes old ships, it doesn't look beautiful to me.

Detriot - Dave's suggestion is a nice one, but it puts the onus on the neighbors - if they want it out of there sooner rather than later, they should pitch in and help. Of course no one is forcing them to do so, but by not doing so they would have to look at this for longer. The whole suggestion was speculative and not something that is actually happening so my response was speculative as well.

What I would like is some pictures of the home and neighborhood to see if the boat is really that visible or not. That is the element missing from this story. If it really can't be seen generally by the neighbors, no problem. If it is taking over the view for the majority of the street - that's another issue.

Anita, it's 72 feet of ship.

Neighbors are not just people who live next door, but should be people who care. My sister moved our parents to her neighborhood, but before that, my parents' neighbors shoveled their walk in the winter, helped them with little chores, and generally helped them stay in their home as long as possible.

As I recall, the town I grew up in was full of nice neighbors. Those who had more wealth would have annual open houses on New Years, and give everybody punch made with fruit and tea. People tried to plant trees together, help find housing for the less fortunate, and work to make the entire town a nice place. It was so pretty that a number of rich people moved in from another part of the state; suddenly there were nasty remarks, vandalism, unrest in the high school, the cost of the houses went way up so that the nice people's children could not grow up and buy a house. The rich also bought the small houses, tore them down and built McMansions everywhere they could. When my parents moved out of the town, I said a sad goodbye, but there is so little left of that nice town that I would not consider moving back if I had the money. I now live in a modest house in a nice mixed neighborhood in another state... and I feel much richer for it.

I feel sorry for this man; I hope that people step up and help him out, both with his legal fight and his restoration project. And maybe also help him through his cancer treatments. I am amazed that he has the willpower to do such a project; he is fighting for life, what are his neighbor's fighting for?

Anita clearly enjoys seeing her opionions in print and probably likes the sound of her own voice too. She is the neighbor who will leave you notes on your trash can if its left by the curb for 15 minutes too long, make subtle but snarky comments on the length of your lawn, and glare at your dog if it even gets near her precious yard. She would fit right in with this gentleman's snooty, uncaring neighbors. The man has cancer and their main concern is that boat and how they don't like to look at it.... charming...what delightful people they must be. Right, Anita?

2Wylde4U - wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong. But thanks for playing.

It doesn't sound like they objected to the boat until it was there for 6 years! And he has no idea how much longer it will be there before he can finish restoration. There is a difference between a temporary project and a permanent monument. He has rights and should be able to exercise them, but so do his neighbors. Try for one minute looking at this from their perspective. That is all I am doing.

Why doesn't the neighborhood pitch in and help him restore the boat?

Are you crazy? That would imply work, as in manual labor. These people can't dirty their beautiful, delicate, royal hands, so that would imply paying someone, which would impact their wallets. Can't have that, can we?

If he lives in a neighborhood full of the 1%, then most likely, he is also one of the 1%.

those damn 1% again pushing their weight around on the little guy.

Kind of doubt these people represent the 1% the .001% living in lice infested tents are talking about.

Sean, the guy that built the homes in my subdivision built all 100 homes here in three years. I looked at saveshawnee.com that thing isn't even half finished. There is no interior at all.

Actually, there was no indication of hoarding in the article... Sorry, dude, have a parent who is a hoarder and this isn't it.

Sorry "dude" but when you park a boat on your LAWN and then take it apart and then have no practical means of putting it back together, that is HOARDING, plain and simple.

People do this all the time, and I've seen it.

Want to restore a boat? Get a spot in a marina. And no, it won't cost close to the $30,000 quoted in the article.

Restoring an old wooden boat? Will cost much, much more than $30,000.

If he can't afford to pay storage fees on it, he can't afford to restore it. And now that it is disassembled and "can't be moved" it likely will sit and rot until he dies and then be chainsawed up and hauled away.

For the life of me, I am not sure why people defend hoarders. They are no fun to live next door to!

I guess you know this guy personally? So you know he has no means of re-assembling his boat...? If you spent much time in marinas, you'd be aware that not many of them include dry-dock storage facilities, which is what would be required to dis- and re-assemble a boat. It can conceivably (esp. in CA where demand for D.D. facilities far outweighs supply) cost a lot more than 30,000 dollars a year to store a ship in drydock. You can't just take them to a self-storage facility. There are laws aplenty regarding where you can/can't work on a drydocked ship, environmental regulations, and so forth.

Furthermore, where in the article (which is about pi$$ed off NIMBY neighbors, btw, was a lack of "practical means of putting it back together" mentioned? Oh, that's right, it wasn't.

PS- I don't "defend" hoarders. They are no fun to live near, and they CERTAINLY are no fun to live WITH. So tell me, did you just watch the TV show "hoarders" or are you some other kind of "expert"?

http://saveshawnee.com/

Seems he has quite a bit of knowhow and experience with wooden boats...

Exactly! And furthermore, if you have a problem with looking at boats, perhaps living at the BEACH isn't such a good idea!

more2bits:

Quite a few years ago, I purchased a three acre lot in an unincorporated area. All of the lots in the neighborhood were three acres.

As the years went by, my neighbor on one side of my lot put two old trailers right on the property line and had power lines tapped from mine, which I reported and had moved (good grief, how did they not electrocute themselves?). Eventually, another two neighbors started accumulating junk cars, refrigerators, etc. Finally, the neighbor on the other side of my lot purchased several pigs, and placed their pen right on the property line as well. The pig pen was about ten feet away from my well. Our house water started tasting funny, and I had an inspector test the line. What he found could have been seen on that show "Monsters Within Me", and was directly related to the pig runoff.

Several real estate agents told me that although I had made tremendous improvements to my lot, its value was not appreciating because of the neighborhood lots. Wow. How could the other neighborhood lots affect the value of mine? The answer is simple - because nobody will now buy mne.

For that reason, and the taxes I still pay on that lot, I will never again live in an unincorporated area.

Rules may bind you, but they also protect you.

And so should he. This would be no problem in Barstow!

Woody, if he's that far from the ocean, how the hell did the city think he was going to get it back to the ocean?

Allison, have you been hit on the head? Probably the same way all boats are moved over land... by camel train, duh. lol

Woody, if he's that far from the ocean, how the hell did the city think he was going to get it back to the ocean?

Global warming. Launch from the driveway.

Nope. Camel train. Like all boats.

You hit the nail on the head. I'm all for beautiful house/garden museums, but at the expense of everybody else? When the rich have taken away all the assets of the rest of us?

Elizabeth:

How have the rich taken away all of your assets?

Elizabeth:

How have the rich taken away all of your assets?

All you rich vs poor brainwashed children need to stop posting. Lets stick to the topic at hand. (Property rights vs public rights). Please get off this post and go watch reruns of the Daily Show.

Prof 1010 cannot profess any knowledge. Just poorly worded hate for anyone who is more successful. I am sure you are either a young grad student who chose to spend his whole life in school and live off daddys dollars or you are a self proclaimed professor. Either way your diatribe is straight out of certain (shall I say left-leaning) tv shows. Post an original thought once and I will rescind my comments.

Ugly reply to an ugly comment and I feel debased by posting it. (i am posting though)

My thoughts are' was he the first to move into the before other's came. I guess in other words, had the land belonged to him before the other homes came into the area.

Do what a Sarah Palin did, but build a 20 foot high fancy fence on 2 side's, side and back of home.