Owner's Property Use Further Limited in Outback Lawsuit
As written in the Pickens County Progress
An Outback subdivision resident who has been involved in a civil lawsuit over the community's restrictive covenants since 2003, saw more limitations applied to the use of his property after a court order was issued following an emergency hearing in Pickens County Superior Court Thursday.
In the case Outback Property Owners' Association (POA) v. Scott and Jamie Korowotny, the plaintiff last week filed motions that required Thursday's hearing before Judge Roger Bradley.
Among the POA's arguments was a motion to find the defendants in contempt of court (the fourth contempt motion filed in the case), because the defendants defied the court's original order which reflects the verdict in the jury trial. That trial ended in September 2005, and the judge filed the order in October 2005.
At Thursday's hearing, the Korowotnys were found in contempt of court for proceeding with construction of a house on an Outback lot they own, which is adjacent to their lot which sparked the initial lawsuit nearly five years ago.
The Korowotnys were initially sued for constructing a metal building on their property in violation of restrictive covenants. The building still stands, but the couple was ordered in 2005 to develop a landscaping plan to conceal the structure from plain view.
As the jury verdict in the case denied the Korowotnys the right to build anything else on their property until other orders had been executed, the POA said earth moving activity on the empty lot in recent weeks was a violation of the verdict and judge's order.
According to Thursday's order, the Korowotnys are required to conduct a survey of their two lots in the Outback, which is off Price Creek Road, and place a clear dividing line between them within 45 days. They are not allowed to move from one lot to the other except by using the main paved road which accesses both lots.
Furthermore, both Scott and Jamie Korowotny were found to be in non-willful contempt of court because they failed to acquire three quotes from different landscape architects to develop a landscape plan to conceal the metal building.
The October 2005 order required the defendants to retrieve those three quotes. They were required to present the quotes to the POA along with plans for the planting of trees and shrubbery.
The Korowotnys are now required to again attempt to procure the three quotes within 45 days of Thursday's hearing. The middle quote will be accepted per the judge's order, and a landscape contractor will develop and present a plan to the POA board of directors.
According to testimony in Thursday's hearing, the Korowotnys were able only to find two landscape architects willing to provide quotes after the jury trial, but the POA in 2006 was satisfied with the plans that were developed and told them a third quote was unnecessary. Other aspects of the dispute delayed the landscaping, which still has not been completed.
Scott Korowotny was also found in willful contempt Thursday, in response to the POA's complaint that he built a roadway attaching his two lots.
Both Korowotny and another Outback resident testified the roadway was an old logging road that has been visible since before the family moved there over five years ago, though Scott Korowotny had "smoothed out" the road recently to facilitate construction of a house on his empty adjacent lot.
The POA's attorney Diane Marger Moore presented aerial photographs which she said showed the existence of the roadway where there previously had not been one.
The Korowotnys' attorney Morris Martin said Thursday the roadway did not violate POA covenants, and the original jury verdict did not mention whether or not they were allowed to build a roadway on their property.
Last week's emergency hearing was requested by the POA. They complained that the Korowotnys had proceeded on construction of a spec home on their empty lot in early April in violation of a previous verbal contempt order in May 2006, the first time the defendants attempted to build on the property.
The POA's most recent complaints prompted Bradley to visit the property for a "court view."
Scott Korowotny testified Thursday that he had moved some dirt from the empty lot to the lot containing the metal building, to "fill in" small areas. On April 18, two days after the court view of the property, Bradley issued a status quo order requiring the Korowotnys to leave the property exactly as it was on that day.
However, Korowotny also testified the Outback POA approved his request for a building permit on the lot, several days before he began the recent earth moving.
Also at last week's hearing, the Korowotnys were ordered to pay the plaintiffs $2,500 in attorney's fees.
