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TIME -LINE of Schneider -Maloney Property -Line and Fence Dispute Fall 2006 Contacted City of Arden Hills for information re: building a fence and was given advice on how to establish the property line. It was suggested that we rent a metal detector and find pins at each corner of property, which are often several inches below the surface. Downloaded a plat of the property which shows back neighbor's property line jogs 10 feet to the south of original lot line. These 2 lots were severed later than all others; they originally both belonged to the owner of the Gramsie property, previous to the Schneiders. When our lot was severed, they kept an extra 10 feet on their side. We take note of this. Spring 2007 1 told Patty Schneider we were considering some landscaping options for the back yard, possibly including a fence. We rented a metal detector to find pins. Found three easily. Mr. Schneider sees us looking with the metal detector and comes out to talk. We explain about trying to find the pins. We discuss the foot traffic thru our property but he announces that he "does not want a fence!" We didn't continue searching for 4th pin at that point. The next day, as we start to dig for the fourth pin, Mr. Schneider charges out of his house and in a rage orders off "his" property. (The survey later established it was our land all along.) He told us he was a lawyer and he would take us to court. Also said they never had any trouble until we moved into the neighborhood and that we both should get professional help with our interpersonal relations. Got a call from the city planner next day. "Your neighbor claims you are building a fence without a permit." At that point we were only contemplating building a fence. NnvP.mhP.r `ns Building began on our patio. Mr. Schneider called the city and requested an inspection. He also complained about the contractor's trucks and equipment parked overnight on our street, though Schneider doesn't live on our street. The contractor had gotten city clearance in advance to leave equipment on the street for the duration of the project, and he passed all inspections. Schneider hand -delivered a letter to our door claiming we had agreed (supposedly in the same encounter that he ordered us off his property) not to build a fence. No such agreement ever happened. Just another example of his bullying tactics. This false claim plus his claim that he was a lawyer and his threat to take us to court led us to get our own legal counsel. Feb `09 City building inspector, John, visits our home to inspect inside renovations, as per the permits we had obtained for that work. He is aware of the Schneiders' objection to building a fence and visits future fence site with Tim. He suggests we build as close to the property line as possible so as to leave as little property on the other side to have to maintain. Also suggests leaving enough space beneath the fence to permit a weed -whacker to trim the grass on the few inches of our land that might be left on the Schneiders' side of the fence. And whatever you do, he says, don't pay for a survey, since you have already found one of the back pins. June `09 Had a survey done on our property. Mr. Schneider told the surveyor he was going to fight the building of a fence all the way. Mr. Schneider sends us another letter demanding that we remove property stakes placed by the surveyor. When we don't, he removes them and tosses them on our patio. That's when we asked our lawyer to get involved. In her second letter to the Schneiders, she ordered them to remove their bush from our land and desist from further trespassing on our property. They remove the bush, thus conceding the ownership issue of the strip of land they had claimed, but they leave a gaping crater where the bush had been, making no effort to fix the "damage." The Schneiders also contact city hall, requesting that the city rescind the building permit it had issued to us to erect a fence. City staff refuse. October `09 Tim speaks to our neighbor to the west (Pam) about our fence project and without hesitation she gives permission for us to build our (east -west) fence right up to her (north -south) fence so that we can put an end