THE BRIGHT SIDE
Pollard.
The builder. The controversial local development magician maximizing an ability to get every ordinance varied stretched and bent to make a whole lot of money by building in as much controversy to the Lake Geneva community as it makes homes and other related structures.
Pollard has reached a pinnacle of success by concentrating his efforts in putting up residences while getting the community to somehow believe that residents, since they are the target buyers of the properties, are old, going nowhere and not doing much of anything once they move into one of the ‘faux’ single-family homes.
Symphony Bay, located out along Edwards Boulevard, just adjacent to the Lutheran Church, is the place Pollard risked everything to build and now enjoys a fat return because of his ability to build one little house on top of one little house or two more, and so on without being bothered by such expenses as impact fees (they’re to pay for things like roads, traffic signals, and so much more) impact fees by builders are supposed to be levied in order to spare the local community from having to pay for all the services outside the homes that people living in the homes incur.
And what about the variances the Pollard development was allowed? Homes, supposedly defined as single-family dwellings, allowed to be built just ten feet from one another? That’s a little more than third and three on a football field. A basketball center of height could put his feet against the outside wall of one of these ‘homes’ and push his hands up against the wall of the house next door. And what about the ten feet? Reports are coming in that allege that the distances between homes are actually, in many cases, not that required by the variance to the ordinance (normal homes must be separated by at least fifteen feet in Lake Geneva) but running at between eight and a half and ten inches.
Say what? How are the title companies going to issue clear titles to those places when they are sold again in the future? The Geneva Shore Report is all over this investigation, as should the city of Lake Geneva city council, the city inspector, and more. Where will the possible liability fall when the properties pass on into the future? How much does it cost to move a house a foot or so, or does it come down to a hefty fine and another variance change?
