By Tom O'Neill
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Steve Dapper stands outside his home, with the addition that he built without a permit. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

ANDERSON TWP. - A decade-long battle between an Anderson Township contractor and local and county building officials is ending with a solution no one really wanted: a demolition crew ripping down an addition to his home that officials say is substandard and was built without a permit.

At the Dapper family's house Tuesday, life went on amid the din of chain saws and demolition. Outside, a Hamilton County sheriff's deputy sat in his cruiser to ensure there were no confrontations between the family and the construction workers who are dismantling - by court order - the back of the Dapper home.

The expansion that contractor Steve Dapper began in 1990 at his Mount Carmel Road home is coming down, at the request of the Hamilton County Building Department and under the authority of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

It marks the end of an ordeal for the family, and for township and county officials.

"I'm terrified," Steve's wife, Kathy, said during a break in the cacophony. "How would you feel if you sat in your bedroom with a chainsaw on the other side of the wall?"

Her husband said it didn't have to be this way. The various building departments he's dealt with agree.

"This has been going on for a long time, 10 years," Barb Heffner, Anderson Township zoning inspector, said Tuesday. "He had obtained a zoning certificate but continued to build without a building permit. You have to get both before you start building."

He refused, just as he had initially in 1993, when township officials learned of the construction and subsequently affixed a "stop-work order" to the side of the Dappers' 156-year-old home.

After that, the story of the Dappers' home project becomes a "he said, they said" tangle. When the case finally landed in court, Steve Dapper represented himself.

He said he tried four times to obtain the proper building permit, without success. Finally, he went ahead without a permit.

Officials said he agreed to five conditions to improve the safety of the addition, but complied with only one.

Removing the 1,200-square-foot addition will take about 15 days, officials said, and is made trickier by the fact that the home's only bathroom is in it. The workers will leave the bathroom intact. Costs for dismantling the two-story project will be placed on the Dappers' tax bill.

They're raising three children in the home, where they moved to take advantage of Anderson township's good public schools, they said.

The addition replaced a pre-existing one, but was of a different configuration. The family bought the home in 1990 for $25,000. Most of the surrounding homes are in the $80,000-$100,000 range.

"What he built was substandard," Heffner said.

Steve Dapper strongly disagreed. "I'm a contactor. I know that work wasn't substandard. They're just saying that," he said.

Township zoning officials maintain they've spent thousands of hours of staff time, at considerable taxpayer expense, to adhere to state law on home construction.

The addition was first scheduled for demolition on June 6, 2001. It finally began Monday.

E-mail toneill@enquirer.com