CHEVY CHASE, Md. — Neighbors who share a driveway in Chevy Chase, Maryland, have been locked in a court fight for seven long years, and it’s likely not over.
Deborah Vollmer first began fighting her neighbors on 44th Street over their plans for a new, much larger home.
That home has since been built, and now Vollmer is trying to stop them from completely paving the shared driveway, which includes broken concrete and a strip of grass down the center.
Vollmer says the loss of that grass would be part of a trend that’s changing the character of the town.
“Everything’s either building or concrete,” she says.
But Vollmer has lost every lawsuit she’s brought against her neighbors, and the Chevy Chase Town Council has voted to allow the paving project to go ahead while Vollmer appeals her latest suit.
Vollmer has been ordered by a judge to pay her neighbors’ legal fees of almost $30,000, and she is court-ordered to pay for half of the driveway improvements.
Despite this, Vollmer tells WTOP, “I am not going to let the workers do any work on my side.”
She says she is willing to get arrested.
“I don’t want to be arrested, but yes, if it comes to that, I am. I wish we could work out a solution.”
In 2012, Vollmer was found guilty of two counts of malicious destruction of property belonging to the Schwartzes. She was sentenced to one day in jail and three years probation and was ordered to take anger management classes and have no contact with the Schwartzes.
Work on the driveway was underway on the morning of Friday, April 10. WTOP’s Neal Augenstein reports Vollmer asked crews to stop work, saying, “This is my property. I don’t consent.”
Work is underway on the joint driveway of Deborah Vollmer’s home, on the right. http://t.co/aTuUyp2p1g pic.twitter.com/NCwQaYR6M2
— Neal Augenstein (@AugensteinWTOP) April 10, 2015
In a statement to WTOP, Vollmer’s neighbors, the Schwartzes, say they’ve had to go to court more than 16 times, and they feel sorry for Vollmer.
“She has cost her neighbors in the Town of Chevy Chase more than $50,000 in legal fees. Unfortunately, we have had to spend much more than that. We love the neighborhood, (and) the house, and we hope that reason will prevail in the future and that we can live in peace as good neighbors,” the Schwartz family said in the written statement.
WTOP’s Neal Augenstein contributed to this report.
