Changes Coming to the Back Wall

The double-lot that makes up my property is 120 feet across and right at 100 feet deep. The house squats on a fairly large portion of it and sits within feet of the north property line. When I built the addition on the back, my architect helped me to maximize its size by pushing fully out to the 20-foot set-back limit ordained by county building codes.

The property behind the house was, at one time, the used car lot for Modern Chevrolet.

When Modern moved up on University Parkway on the north side of the city, the original dealership lot was developed into condos and townhomes. The used car lot, though, has been mostly sad and used for various itinerant things: it was the leasing office for those new condos; it was home to a private ambulance service for nearly two years; it was the base of operations for a film crew for a couple of months. It does sit up considerably higher than my lots, and there is a tall retaining wall that goes the complete length of this property from Holly Avenue all the way to Fourth Street.

That wall is not in very good shape, starting behind my house and continuing up to Fourth.

Well, big things are about to happen.

The gravel lot on the north side of the house has been purchased by the same crew that's building the new office building on the north side of Fourth Street.

They've done their soil testing:

They've had the power cut to the building behind my house:

They have blocked off the gravel lot (most likely so that nobody will be parked there when and if that shaky wall suddenly gives way!):

And it's expected in mid-December that this wall will come down, which will radically change the look out the back of my property. It's also going to open me up a bit and leave me feeling a bit vulnerable, once that wall is gone and the adjoining property has been sloped. I might have to rent some fencing or something to make me feel safer. And also to keep Cyprus in check!