Building your first own home should be an exciting time for any family. After all, you are finally on the way to living the "American Dream".

Or are you?

What if this dream suddenly turns into a nightmare? What if, after your home is almost 95% completed, and you are within a few weeks of moving in, someone comes and tells you that your home CANNOT EXIST?

A cruel joke? Well, we sure weren't laughing.

When Rick left the Army after the Gulf War in October of 1991, we decided that his hometown in West Virginia was where we would return to live and raise our children. We managed to rent a small house, across from his parents' place, in the neighborhood he grew up in. A small, quiet community, situated along Lens Creek Road, between Marmet and Hernshaw. This became our home for the next 12 years.

In June of 2002, Rick's Dad, who owns several pieces of property in this community, signed one of those pieces over us, along with the 2-bedroom house, which was built in the 1950s by Rick's Uncle Jimmy. Of course we would have to do some remodeling and renovating to the house, and an addition was needed to accommodate our family of four, but it still seemed like a dream --- our very own home…

After several months of going through the paperwork with the bank, for a loan to undertake the necessary improvements, and several hundred dollars for a survey and obtaining flood insurance (required since all the houses in this community are in a flood-zone) we began our project in November 2002.

Aside from fighting the weather, delivery delays, hassles with unforeseen difficulties and other minor setbacks, we were making decent progress and managed to make it all the way to "painting walls" before our dream turned into a nightmare.

On July 9^th 2003 (Rick at work while I'm at the house, painting what was to become Kyle's new room) I was paid a visit by a man from the County Planning Office, who simply walked into the house and demanded to see my building permit.

Now we'd had estimates for our project from 5 different "professional" contractors, and every time the question about a building permit came up we were told we didn't need one since we were out of city limits, only remodeling an existing structure, and doing most of the work ourselves. Now this guy from the County informs me that we had to have a County Building Permit, needed to get one immediately and would probably be faced with a fine for building without it.

I set out the next morning to make the trip down to the County Planning Office, armed with all my paperwork (including the Elevation Certificate we'd needed for the flood insurance) to obtain the necessary building permit, pay my fine and rectify the situation.

At the Planning Office I was then informed that our house was not only in a flood zone but in a flood way and quote: "Could not exist there because no structure is allowed to be located in a flood way" end quote.

I tried to explain that the original house had existed there since the 1950s, that we were merely renovating the structure, that our house was the last one downstream and that nine other houses were in front of us which would block the creek (should it flood) before it ever reached us.

To no avail! No matter how much I tried to reason or argue, I was informed that my building permit was denied and we had to "STOP BUILDING IMMEDIATELY" until the Flood Plain Manager could inspect the location with an engineer and tell us what steps would have to be taken. He was supposed to call me the same afternoon and set up a time for this inspection.

The call never came!

July 31^st 2003, a white Ford SUV with County license plates pulled into our little community, driving slowly along the houses, turned back at the end of the road, did another pass, then left without ever stopping. About 15 minutes after the vehicle left my phone rang and the caller identified himself as the Flood Plain Manager from the County Planning Office.

He wanted to know what my understanding was as to the instructions I had been given at my visit to the Planning Office. I answered that "I was ordered to stop building and told that he would call me the same afternoon to set up an appointment for bringing an engineer to inspect our location regarding the flood way issue. He then informed me that he had just been to the location and that he would send me a list of engineers from which I would have to choose one to have a "Hec II survey" completed which would determine what further steps had to be taken against us.

I tried to explain that every day of delay was losing us money, considering we were still paying rent while our home remained unfinished and at the same time paying the mortgage for the construction loan.

His answer, "That's irrelevant! And actually we are saving you money by stopping your construction, so you won't waste any more on a house that cannot be in a flood way."

I argued that the house had been there for over 50 years, changed owners five times since then, had been appraised each time, surveyed repeatedly, and that we had already nearly $50,000.00 invested in the house since it was already 95% completed.

His reply, "That's irrelevant! You made improvements which would double the value of the house over 50% and that cannot be done without a permit."

I responded that we were more than willing to obtain the necessary permit and pay any fine involved, that we had simply not known a permit was required for renovating an existing home outside of city limits.

He informed me that the law, requiring a County permit existed since 1985 and he couldn't believe that we were so ignorant as to not have known.

I asked what we should do now, considering our rented house was supposed to be vacated shortly (new tenants were already waiting), we had invested what, for our one-income family, amounts to a small fortune in the new house and couldn't move in because we weren't allowed to finish it.

Another, "That's irrelevant!" answer.

My next argument was, that I knew of at least 5 houses, which had been remodeled or newly built within the last couple of years just down the road where this Building Permit law had never been enforced.

His reply, "That's irrelevant! We have to start somewhere enforcing the law and a survey will tell us what has to be done."

"As in?" I inquired. "Are you going to make us tear the house down or what? It's nearly done and we'll be paying on the mortgage for the next 30 years."

The comeback, "That's irrelevant!"

There were a few more of these exchanges in this phone conversation I had with this man, all to the point that nearly everything I said was irrelevant and so were our family, our home and our future. The conversation ended with him telling me that he would call me back at 9am the following morning (August 1^st 2003) to discuss the matter further.

9am August 1^st 2003 came and went and at 9:55am I resolved to place the call to the County Planning Office myself. I managed to get connected to the Flood Plain Manager who requested that I come into the office once more so he could "explain the details" to me. He then told me that he would get my file and "call me right back".

After waiting for another hour, I once again took it upon myself to call the Office at 11am to reach the Flood Plain Manager. We then agreed that I would meet with him there at 1pm that afternoon.

I reached the Office at 12:30pm and was told that he might be "slightly delayed". The delay turned into another wait for the Flood Plain Manager who finally arrived at 1:55pm.

In the course of the next two hours he informed me in short that

a) the addition we built to our home was what made the structure illegal.

b) even IF an engineer MIGHT agree that, with the way the creek behind the house had changed its course naturally (further away from the house) over the last few years, our house would be no longer considered an obstruction in the floodway, we would still be required to elevate the house at least 5 feet.

c) should such an elevation be impossible, then the county would simply file an injunction against the house and basically condemn it as unsuitable to live in.

My next argument was that this ordinance had never been enforced before in this area and that, if the County started to enforce it now, they should go back and enforce it on all the other homes which had been newly built or remodeled since 1985.

He stated that they "could not enforce it retroactively -- after the houses had been built."

I then explained that, since our construction was completed as well (since February) and that, unless I needed a building permit for painting walls and installing toilets, sinks and light-fixtures, any enforcement of the ordinance on our home would also be "retroactively".

His rebuttal was that in our case the construction had just been "finished recently".

I inquired as to what he then considered enforcing the ordinance "retroactively". A day? A week? A few months?

"Two years or so", he informed me, and added that they would send out inspectors to the area to investigate.

We ended the meeting with him supplying a list of engineers, from which I should pick one to have the HEC II (hydrological) survey conducted.

Upon contacting those engineers we were advised to seek legal council instead of having the hydrological survey conducted, because even IF the outcome of the ($2500.00 or more) survey were in our favor, it would be up to FEMA to make the final decision.

I spent the next couple of days on the phone, trying to find a lawyer willing to take on this case. The first one I consulted "didn't have time at the moment" and referred me to another attorney who, in turn, provided me with phone numbers for two of his colleagues. I tried both of those but was, once again, referred to someone else who required a several thousand dollar retainer up front (money we simply didn't have).

For a long time it looked like we were stuck. They had us by the throat and they were squeezing tighter. We were stuck with an almost finished house in which we had $50,000.00 and the next 30 years of our lives invested and which we couldn't move into, because the County suddenly decided to start enforcing an 18-year-old ordinance that had NEVER been enforced before in this area.

Getting a little desperate, I started writing some letters to different newspapers, local representatives, and even the Governor and the Attorney General's Office, explaining our situation. Two (2) !!! answers out of 17 letters, one from the secretary of the then Secretary of State, and the other from the office of one of our Senators, basically telling me we were on our own.

Through an acquaintance we finally managed to hire a lawyer who wasn't afraid to take on the County, and a meeting was held on August 13^th 2003. We were told that the only way to prevent further action being taken against us was, to have the hydrological study conducted, which would have to show that the addition we built to our house had no impact on the base flood elevation. The one positive thing that came out of this meeting was, that our lawyer got us the OK to move into our house.

We hired one of the surveyors on the list the County Planning Commission had provided us with, and for $2,200 it was concluded that, in a "hundred year flood" our addition would cause a 0.2 inch increase in the base flood elevation.
Let me explain something here: This so-called "hundred year flood" would mean water from hillside to hillside in our area. Our house would be approximately 8.6 feet under water, all the single-story houses in the community would be nearly completely submerged, and every house along Lens Creek as well as our nearest town, Marmet, and all the surrounding communities would be under water. In a disaster like that do 0.2 inches really matter?

We had another meeting with the Planning Commission on October 30^th 2003, where we were told that we had 90 days to turn our 0.2 inches into "zero increase" by removing 3,914 cubic foot of ground from our property along the creek bed. This, of course, needed a permit from the WV Conservation Office and would have to be done professionally and to exact specifications. We were also required to send a monthly letter to the County Planning Commission, keeping them updated on our progress in complying with their requirements.

I was still trying to get a hold of someone from the Conservation Office (the people there obviously don't check their phone messages) when November 12^th 2003 rolled around. Since the County had put a stop to our finishing the house completely, only about a third of the log siding was installed. The rest, still stacked up outside under the bay window, floated happily downstream along with about $400 worth of soffit, gutter, and fascia that hadn't been installed yet since the person who was supposed to put it on for us a couple of weeks before didn't show up as he had promised.

One of the residents, further downstream, fished our escaped siding out of the creek. He would have been nice enough to sell it back to us, but since I basically told him where he could stick it he sold it to someone else while I collected what I could find of our soffit and fascia and turned it into the recycling station for $14 worth of scrap aluminum. Flood insurance is a wonderful thing, too, but it doesn't cover siding unless it's attached to the house. Bummer!
The inside of the house? Well, you could say we got our 0.2 inches. Strangely, the addition remained completely untouched. Just the "old" part of the house had water in it.

Okay, enough of that, though. The flood actually solved one of our problems because the house on the lot adjoining ours (which used to belong to Rick's Grandma and was now owned by his Aunt) was pretty much damaged beyond repair by the muddy waters. In January 2004 the County agreed (after another survey was conducted) that us purchasing this property and removing the house would make up for the addition we had built. They were also gracious enough to grant us an additional 90-day extension to our original deadline for complying with their requirements. We managed to buy the property from Rick's Aunt in February 2004 and, after some delays due to EPA regulations, had the house removed in April of 2004, therefore fulfilling the "zero increase" requirement.

Think we're done now? Oh, no! Now we're getting to the issue that the lowest floor of our house is located approximately 6 feet below base flood level, meaning the whole house would have to be raised another 6 feet to comply with "flood plain" regulations. My question here would be as to WHY the surveyor, who conducted the study for the Elevation Certificate we needed BEFORE we ever started this project, didn't mention anything about this? He did his survey, collected his $250, handed me the certificate, and never mentioned anything about a base flood level. Were we supposed to know what those numbers on that certificate meant? We do now. We learned the hard way. We acquired letters from the contractor who had built the addition, and also from a professional "house mover", stating that it was impossible to raise the house without causing major structural damage.

At this point we also received some help from a family friend who likes to dabble in politics. He managed to get us an interview with a high-ranking member of the County Commission Board, and finally we were granted a hearing before the whole Board to state our case. Unfortunately, our lawyer was on vacation on the day the meeting was set, so we were (once again) on our own. At this point, it really didn't matter anymore. We had already spent over a year and in excess of $12,000, trying to comply with the County's requirements. Now it was all or nothing.

At 2pm on September 15^th 2004, the day of the scheduled meeting, I received a phone call from the County Planning Commission, informing me that the letters, regarding the raising of the house (which I had faxed to the Office 2 weeks earlier) weren't good enough, and that we would need a letter from a "Structural Engineer". Timing is everything, isn't it? We went to the meeting anyway, armed with a stack of paperwork, containing our side of the story in black and white.

We got our 15 minutes worth, Rick and I basically double-teaming the County Commission Board. We explained the facts, nearly every point that was brought up we could rebut with proof on paper (nowhere....not on the Elevation Certificate, nor on the Flood Insurance Policy, the papers from the bank or even the flood map did the word "Flood Way" appear. A6 Flood Zone is what our area is classified as.)
I even presented a print-out of an email from our local FEMA representative, which contradicted a direct quote from one of the board members.
Much to the chagrin of the Flood Plain Manager the meeting ended with his concession that our final requirement would be the letter from the Structural Engineer.

So, to end a very long story...a couple of weeks and another $650 later we had our letter, the County conceded, charged us another $50 and finally issued us our building permit.

Did we win? I don't know. We got to keep our house, had to borrow additional money to replace the lost siding and finally finish it, and now we'll be making our monthly mortgage payments for the next 30 years, holding our breath every time it rains hard because a creek, that hadn't flooded in over 40 years, has come over its banks 4 times in the last 3 years. 
So, to our friends in Oklahoma -- watch out for those tornados, to the ones in California -- good luck with the mud-slides and earth quakes, greetings to Minnesota --try to stay warm next winter, and to Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi -- those Hurricanes sure drive up the prices on building materials everywhere.
To everyone else, check your County's regulations before you start your home improvements, and don't ever take the word of a so-called "professional" for anything!

PS: Our deepest thanks to everyone who helped us out. I have intentionally not included any names in this little "story". Everyone involved, you know who you are (on both sides of the issue!)
One person, however, I would like to mention. Thanks, Terry, for going above and beyond the "call of duty" in helping us to finish this house. You did a wonderful job and we sure couldn't have done it without you!!!

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