You’ve heard of one-story houses and two-story houses, but what’s a 1 1/2-story house?
In a case that might have implications for homeowners across Mecklenburg County, a Superior Court judge last week heard arguments about whether a restriction limiting houses to “one-and-a-half stories in height” in a neighborhood is valid and enforceable.
The hearing was spurred by a suit involving a home being built in Myers Park. A real estate developer, JDB Development Co., filed the complaint stating that a restrictive covenant limiting houses to 1 1/2 stories was too vague to be enforceable.
JDB began construction of a two-story residential property in a plot of land at 1501 Sterling Road in early 2015. The developer had bought the parcel in 2014 for almost $600,000.
In April of that year, several homeowners complained to the local homeowners association about a full second floor going up on the house. In May 2015 a cease-and-desist notice was served to the developer.
In August, JDB filed a suit asking the courts to declare the restriction “invalid and unenforceable.” Twenty-six neighborhood homeowners were named defendants.
The article goes on to describe the legal arguments on both sides. And yes, a 1/2 story is apparently a fairly common term.
