Coffee is for Closers - Part 1

The day of the closing was among one of the more emotionally draining days I've ever had in my life. It was filled with a lot of events that brought with them highs and lows, stresses and reliefs, indecision and decisions. I feel like I've been slowing down on posts, knowing that I was coming to this day and not really wanting to relive it through writing about it. I've been trying to avoid this day. But telling the story, means telling the whole story… so, for better or worse, here it goes.

1. Rhode Island Ethics Commission Hearing

The house lot we bought is small. It's 8000 square feet and only 50 feet wide. I've explained before that it meant we would have to go before the town's Zoning Board to request variances for the side yard and front yard setbacks as well as lot coverage… meaning we wanted to build beyond what was allowed and needed special permission to do so. Dave is on the Zoning Board, the same board we needed to go before and present our case. Before we made the offer, Dave checked to see if that would be allowed. He was told that it was probably fine, he'd just have to recuse himself from the vote, obviously. The next day we made the offer. Then two days later Dave talked to the board's lawyer, who had been on vacation the week before and was told he should really talk to the RI Ethics Commission (EC) to make sure. So he did. What we found out after talking to two different people at the EC was that Dave would actually have to present his case before the Ethics Commission and be granted a hardship variance in order to be allowed to then go before the Zoning Board for our building variance. If the EC said no, that it was not ethical for Dave to present before and seek a decision from a board that was an active member on, then we had only one course of action. Quit the zoning board and then wait a year before we could present before them.

A YEAR!?!?! Oh no. We didn't have a year we could wait. Not financially. Not emotionally. Not physically. Plus, we had entered into a contract to buy a property that we could not build on without a variance. If we backed out of the deal, we would lose the sizable deposit we made when we signed the Purchase and Sales Agreement. Talk about being between a rock and hard place. Up shit's creek without a paddle. Just plain screwed.

The EC's lawyer told Dave that she would be recommending that the board approve our request and that typically a person can act on that before going in front of the board, but that in our case we should not move forward because there was no recent case law precedent on what we were asking for. The most recent precedent (similiar case that was approved) was from 1998 and the make-up of the EC then was very different from the current EC, so they may not be of the same mindset. There should be no reason to say no to us, but if life teaches us anything, it's that nothing is guaranteed.

The hearing before the Ethics Commission was scheduled for the morning of our closing. Of course it was.

At 9am we would learn if we could go before the Zoning Board and at 4pm we would close on a property that absolutely needed a variance to build on. If the Ethics Commission did not go our way, we could back out of the closing and lose our deposit. But we could back out... if absolutely necessary.

At 9am, Dave arrived in Providence at the offices for the Ethics Commission and moments before entering the meeting learned that there were only five members of the EC present. Five members was quorum, but we also needed five "yeas" to be granted the permission we needed. We needed a unanimous YES.

Dave walked out of the meeting and called me immediately, "We received unanimous approval!"

We were deemed ethical!

One check in the happy/positive column.

Next up… dying cat.