HOA Demolished My Great-Grandfather's Windmill, Then Found Out Who Owns the Clubhouse Land — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00The excavator arm swung back and my
2. 0:02great-grandfather's windmill hit the
3. 0:04dirt with sound I'll never forget. A
4. 0:06blonde woman in white stared at it and
5. 0:08whispered, "What's happening?" I walked
6. 0:11up beside her, pointed at the bent
7. 0:13blades, and said, "You just destroyed
8. 0:16the one thing holding your clubhouse up.
9. 0:18My name is Arthur Penallo. I'm 64, and I
10. 0:21spent 30 years teaching history at the
11. 0:23local high school. I also come from
12. 0:26three generations of farmers. Today, all
13. 0:29that's left of our land is 12 acres, an
14. 0:31old barn, and a 40ft steel windmill. My
15. 0:34family has kept turning since 1887. My
16. 0:36greatgrandfather, Josiah, built that
17. 0:39windmill from scrap rails and a catalog
18. 0:41kit for three generations. It pumped
19. 0:44water for our cattle, our garden, and
20. 0:46half the neighbors. My father painted it
21. 0:48every spring. In 2004, the state listed
22. 0:52it on the historic register. Visitors
23. 0:54still stop on the road to take photos.
24. 0:57In 1998, my father sold a ridge above
25. 1:00our farm to a developer 80 acres for a
26. 1:03new neighborhood called Windmill Ridge
27. 1:05Estates. He needed the money for my
28. 1:07mother's care, but he refused to sign
29. 1:10until one clause was added. He made the
30. 1:12lawyers write it twice, and he read it
31. 1:14aloud in the kitchen. Section seven, the
32. 1:18buyer shall preserve the Penhalo
33. 1:19windmill in place. If the windmill is
34. 1:22removed, damaged, or demolished, the
35. 1:244acre clubhouse parcel shall revert to
36. 1:26Penhallo family, and the buyer shall pay
37. 1:29$500,000 for restoration. Dad said, "A
38. 1:33windmill can't defend itself, Arthur.
39. 1:35So, I wrote a lawyer." The developer
40. 1:38agreed because he wanted the brand.
41. 1:41Windmill Ridge, 120 homes with a
42. 1:44windmill on every sign, every mailbox,
43. 1:47every welcome banner. Each spring, kids
44. 1:50paraded around it with paper pin wheels,
45. 1:53and families took holiday photos at its
46. 1:55base. For 20 years, everybody loved my
47. 1:58family's windmill. Then somebody decided
48. 2:01to improve it. Meredith Lang became HOA
49. 2:04president in March. 55, long blonde
50. 2:07hair, white blouse, always a clipboard,
51. 2:10and a plan. Her plan was called the
52. 2:12wellness hub. Pickle ball courts, a
53. 2:14juice bar, and yoga lawn on a 4acre
54. 2:17clubhouse parcel. right beside my
55. 2:19windmill. "It's going to be gorgeous,"
56. 2:21she told the board. "Except for one
57. 2:23thing. At the board meeting," she
58. 2:26pointed at a slide of my windmill. "This
59. 2:28rusty relic blocks our court layout and
60. 2:31creates a liability," she said. A man in
61. 2:34the back objected. "That's our logo."
62. 2:37Meredith smiled sweetly. "We can make a
63. 2:39prettier logo." Two neighbors nodded.
64. 2:42The rest looked uncomfortable. Nobody
65. 2:44asked what section 7 said. Two weeks
66. 2:47later, I received an HOA letter. Remove
67. 2:50the unsafe structure within 30 days at
68. 2:53your expense or the HOA will remove it
69. 2:55and bill you. I wrote back that day
70. 2:58attaching the deed covenant and the
71. 3:00historic register certificate. Meredith
72. 3:02replied in one line, historic? It's
73. 3:05scrap. Our contractor says it's unsafe.
74. 3:08Her contractor was Roy Sutter, who owned
75. 3:11an excavation company and had never read
76. 3:13a deed in his life. Meredith handed him
77. 3:15a work order for $14,000.
78. 3:18She told him the windmill belonged to
79. 3:20the HOA and that the owner had abandoned
80. 3:23it. Roy, who needed the work, took her
81. 3:26word. That Friday, I drove 3 hours to my
82. 3:30sister's 70th birthday. My son Daniel
83. 3:32stayed at the farm. I told him, "Call me
84. 3:35if anything happens." He laughed, "Dad,
85. 3:39nobody's going to touch a 130y old
86. 3:40windmill." At 7 the next morning, my
87. 3:44phone rang. Daniel's voice was shaking.
88. 3:47Dad, there's an excavator on the ridge.
89. 3:50A crew in orange vests. They've strapped
90. 3:52cables around the tower. I was in my
91. 3:55slippers with a coffee mug. I threw in
92. 3:58the sink, grabbed my keys, and drove 3
93. 4:01hours and two and a half. I don't
94. 4:03remember a single mile. When I turned
95. 4:05onto the ridge road, the tower was
96. 4:07already leaning. I jumped out and ran.
97. 4:10The cable snapped tight, the legs
98. 4:13groaned, and the head will came down
99. 4:15with a crash that shook the ground.
100. 4:17Daniel was beside me, white as paper.
101. 4:20The blades lay twisted in the dirt,
102. 4:22still spinning slowly as if they didn't
103. 4:24know. Meredith stood in the dust in her
104. 4:27white blouse, hands at her cheeks.
105. 4:29"What's happening?" she whispered as if
106. 4:32the windmill had fallen by itself. I
107. 4:34walked up beside her, pointed at the
108. 4:36twisted blades, and said, "Ma'am, you
109. 4:39just demolished the Penhallo windmill.
110. 4:42Do you remember section 7?" She frowned.
111. 4:44"Section what?" I pulled the deed from
112. 4:47my truck and read it aloud, standing in
113. 4:50the dust. "If the windmill is removed,
114. 4:52damaged, or demolished, the clubhouse
115. 4:55parcel shall revert to the Penhallo
116. 4:56family, and the buyer shall pay
117. 4:58$500,000."
118. 5:00Meredith laughed. That's an ancient
119. 5:03paper. We own that land. I said, "You
120. 5:06took title subject to it. Read page
121. 5:09three." Roy Sutter climbed down from the
122. 5:12cab, took the deed from my hand, and
123. 5:14read it slowly. He took off his hard
124. 5:17hat. "Ma'am, you told me the owner
125. 5:19abandoned this." He said, "That's not
126. 5:22what this says." He shut the engine off.
127. 5:25I'm not touching another bolt. Not
128. 5:27without a lawyer. Meredith snapped. We
129. 5:30paid you," Roy said. "Not enough of
130. 5:33this." When the dust cleared, I walked
131. 5:36the fallen head wheel. The blades were
132. 5:38twisted. The tail veins split in half.
133. 5:41The old brass plate dented. Daniel put
134. 5:44his arm around me, and I knelt in the
135. 5:46dirt and touched the rust my
136. 5:48great-grandfather's hands once oiled. I
137. 5:50whispered, "I'm sorry, Dad." Daniel
138. 5:54didn't answer. He just held on. Monday
139. 5:57morning, I sat in the office of an
140. 5:59attorney named Nadia Rosenthal who read
141. 6:01section 7 twice and leaned back.
142. 6:04"Arthur, this is trespass, breach of a
143. 6:07recorded covenant, and destruction of a
144. 6:10registered landmark," she said. "And a
145. 6:12reverter clause is real. The clubhouse
146. 6:15parcel can come back to you." She
147. 6:17smiled. "Let's see what the state says
148. 6:19first." Dr. Simona Chab from the state
149. 6:22historic preservation office arrived
150. 6:24that afternoon with a camera and a
151. 6:26lanyard. She photographed every bolt,
152. 6:29every blade, every cut cable. This is a
153. 6:32protected landmark, she told me.
154. 6:34Demolishing it without a state permit
155. 6:36carries fines up to a quarter of a
156. 6:38million dollars and a mandatory
157. 6:40restoration order. She didn't smile. I'm
158. 6:42going to be thorough. Meredith did what
159. 6:45she does best. She sent the community a
160. 6:47newsletter. unfortunate incident with an
161. 6:50unsafe structure that the owner
162. 6:52neglected. She blamed me. She blamed the
163. 6:56weather. She even blamed the pigeons.
164. 6:58Neighbors stood at the ridge staring at
165. 7:00the broken tower. A little girl asked
166. 7:03her mother, "Why did they hurt our
167. 7:05windmill?" Nadia's investigator pulled
168. 7:07the HOA's own records. In 2022, the
169. 7:12board had paid an engineer to inspect
170. 7:14the windmill. His report structurally
171. 7:17sound recommend preservation as a
172. 7:20signature community feature. Meredith
173. 7:22had never shown it to the board. Nadia
174. 7:25tapped the page. Arthur, she buried the
175. 7:28report that said the windmill was fine.
176. 7:30Then came the emails. Meredith, the
177. 7:32treasurer, a month before the
178. 7:34demolition. Remove the windmill before
179. 7:36the pickle ball vote. They'll cry for a
180. 7:39week. Then they'll love the courts. And
181. 7:42one more. Don't mention the pen hallow
182. 7:44deed. It'll only complicate things.
183. 7:47Nadia put the print out on my kitchen
184. 7:49table. She knew Arthur. She knew about
185. 7:52section 7. A week later, the HOA held a
186. 7:56pack meeting. 100 residents, many
187. 7:59holding paper pin wheels. A retired
188. 8:02nurse stood. Meredith, our windmill was
189. 8:05the reason we bought here, she said. A
190. 8:07father added. You told us it was unsafe.
191. 8:11wears a report. Meredith froze, her
192. 8:14white blouse suddenly looking very small
193. 8:16under the lights. Judge Lucille Barnes
194. 8:18heard the case in a packed courtroom.
195. 8:21Nadia presented the deed, the historic
196. 8:23register certificate, the inspection
197. 8:25report, and the emails. Meredith's
198. 8:27lawyer argued that the windmill was an
199. 8:29unsafe nuisance. The judge raised her
200. 8:32hand. Councel, your client had an
201. 8:35engineer's report saying it was sound.
202. 8:37Why wasn't disclosed? The lawyer looked
203. 8:39at the table. Meredith took the stand in
204. 8:41her white blouse composed. Nadia asked
205. 8:45one question. Ms. Lang, did you read the
206. 8:48pen hallow deed before ordering
207. 8:49demolition? I didn't think I needed to.
208. 8:52Did you read section 7? She paused. No.
209. 8:56Nadia handed her the page. Would you
210. 8:58read aloud, please? Meredith read it,
211. 9:01and her voice broke on the word revert.
212. 9:04Judge Barnes ruled that afternoon. The
213. 9:07HOA had breached the covenant,
214. 9:08trespassed, and destroyed a registered
215. 9:11landmark. It would pay the $500,000
216. 9:14restoration fund and the state's fines,
217. 9:16and the clubhouse parcel would revert to
218. 9:18the Penhallo family unless the HOA
219. 9:21restored the windmill to state standards
220. 9:23within 12 months. An opportunity, she
221. 9:26said, to make it right. That night, I
222. 9:30sat on my porch with Daniel. You could
223. 9:32take the clubhouse, Dad, he said. I
224. 9:34shook my head. I don't want a clubhouse.
225. 9:37I want my greatgrandfather's windmill
226. 9:40turning again. I went to the barn and
227. 9:42opened an old trunk. Inside were the
228. 9:45original blueprints, spare blades, and a
229. 9:47hand painted sign Josiah had made.
230. 9:49Penallow. The restoration took 8 months.
231. 9:53Neighbors volunteered every Saturday. A
232. 9:56retired welder fixed the head wheel.
233. 9:58Kids scrub rust and painted blades and
234. 10:00dad's original blue. Roy Sutter brought
235. 10:03a crane for free. Meredith resigned
236. 10:05before the recall vote could finish. Her
237. 10:08replacement, the retired nurse, brought
238. 10:10donuts. For the first time in years, the
239. 10:13ridge sounded like a family. On a windy
240. 10:16April morning, 200 neighbors gathered on
241. 10:19the ridge to watch the crane lift ahead
242. 10:20onto the tower. Dr. Aabi inspected every
243. 10:24bolt and nodded. Roy lowered the final
244. 10:26pin. Daniel and I stood side by side. A
245. 10:30gust came up. The blade shivered and
246. 10:32then slowly the wheel began to turn.
247. 10:35Everyone cheered. I couldn't speak.
248. 10:38People asked if I was angry. I was. But
249. 10:41a windmill doesn't care about anger. It
250. 10:44cares about wind and about people
251. 10:46willing to catch it. Never destroy what
252. 10:48you haven't read about. And never ignore
253. 10:50the old paper in the drawer. If you
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256. 10:56the comments below.