LAUDERHILL, Fla. – There’s a “rocky” situation in one South Florida community where neighbor has been pitted against neighbor.
Loretta and Leroy Bayliss, of Lauderhill, just want to be left alone. Instead, they are facing fines and a possible lien on their home.
It’s all over rocks, grass and plants.
“I am tired!” Loretta Bayliss said. “I’m at my wits’ end with the city of Lauderhill and the neighbor next door.”
After the grass died in a spot on their property, the Baylisses added pavers and stones. And their next-door neighbor wasn’t having it.
“She comes over and says what?” Local 10 News investigative reporter Jeff Weinsier asked.
“She doesn’t like it and I’m not supposed to have the pavers there. Period,” Loretta Bayliss said.
That next-door neighbor went to code enforcement; Loretta was cited. Documents say her permit was denied. The rocks were too close to her neighbor’s property line, which apparently created drainage issues. So, not wanting a problem, she removed the pavers.
“Now she doesn’t want the rocks because she says they are going to get in her tire,” Loretta Bayliss said.
Loretta and her husband added grass, some plants and fewer rocks. But that wasn’t good enough.
“No. Nothing will ever be good enough. Nothing,” Loretta Bayliss said. “No matter what I do, she just keeps calling code. All the time.”
Loretta, who is facing a lien and fines, says other homes in the area have rocks. In fact, Local 10 News saw several that haven’t been cited.
Arlene Edwards is the neighbor who came out to confront Local 10 News.
“Those rocks really bother you?” Weinsier asked.
“Yes,” Edwards said. “Because they come into my driveway and I got rocks in my tires when I come out of my driveway. I have a Mercedes. I took it to Mercedes and they want to know why I have so many rocks.”
Loretta Bayliss claims the rocks are never in Edwards’ driveway. Edwards also claims rain runoff from the rocks creates a puddle.
“When I moved here, the grass was here,” Edwards said. “It is supposed to be grass. There are not supposed to be rocks and plants.”
But the rocks are on the Baylisses’ property, not Edwards’.
“You see she has the flowers?” Edwards asked. “No flowers are supposed to be there. Supposed to be grass.”
“So you can have a hedge, but she can’t have flowers in a pot?” Weinsier asked.
“Well, the hedge is to hide the ugliness,” she retorted.
Records show Edwards has complained to code enforcement over and over about what goes on next door: their fence, the way they park, how they store things on their property and their pool.
“When she comes down there, she’s stating that she’s going to have their jobs if they don’t do what she wants them to do,” Loretta Bayliss said. “No matter what I’ve tried, it doesn’t work with her.”
“What do you say to someone who says you are making a big deal out of some rocks?” Weinsier asked Edwards.
“Well, they are making a big deal when they are interfering with me,” Edwards replied.
Local 10 News contacted Lauderhill code enforcement and the city manager about the situation. We were told someone would get back to us. No one has as of this article’s publication.
At the beginning of August, Loretta and Leroy Bayliss could face fines.
“Please, I just want your help. I just want the city to leave me alone,” Loretta Bayliss said. “I just want her to leave me alone, enjoy my house and do what I want in my yard.”