Couple told to raze Chevy Chase home

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A couple who bought and renovated an 82-year-old house in Chevy Chase must tear it down because Montgomery County officials erred in approving the project.

Marianne and Marc Duffy said the oversight was pointed out by some high-powered neighbors who pressured the officials into rescinding approval, which will force the Duffys into bankruptcy and to demolish their $725,000 home in the 3700 block of Thornapple Street.

"Our neighbors complained, then county officials informed us that they issued our building permits in error and that we'd have to seek a variance," Mrs. Duffy said. "This is after a county official testified under oath at hearings that we were truthful and forthcoming, and that they and the permitting office fully understood what it was approving."

Robert Hubbard, director of the Department of Permitting Services, said that the Duffys were issued permits for a renovation but that officials later determined they needed additional approvals from the county Board of Appeals. The first permit was issued January 2005, and construction was stopped June 9, 2005, the Duffys said.

Mr. Hubbard also said the agency has worked with the Duffys throughout the process and "is prepared to continue to be of assistance."

County officials deferred further inquiries -- including a call to County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate -- to the Department of Permitting Services.

The Duffys sold their Bethesda home for $707,000 in November 2004, then purchased the one in Chevy Chase for $725,000, according to records.

The couple received the renovation permits to put a two-story addition at the rear of the home. But problems quickly arose when crews found mold, wood rot and termite damage, making additional construction necessary.

The damage was so extensive that more than 50 percent of the existing walls were removed, which meant the building should have been classified as a new home and subject to different zoning regulations.

The county granted the couple new permits, then voided them and halted construction when neighbors pointed out the house was originally built seven feet too close to the street and two feet too close to the home of William Hamilton, an editor at the Washington Post, and his wife, Jane Mayer, a staff writer for the New Yorker.