Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Yu Darvish and his wife, Seiko, in late March were sued by a neighboring couple in Evanston for recently installing a solid wood cedar fence that blocks those neighbors’ views of Lake Michigan.
The litigation is the latest development in the Darvishes’ longstanding effort to gain privacy by enclosing the front and back yards of their mansion on Lake Michigan in Evanston. And it continues a saga that dates to shortly after Darvish and his wife paid $4.55 million in May 2018 for their six-bedroom, 5,400-square-foot lakefront home in Evanston.
The suit, filed by neighbors Craig and Alexis Eyler on March 29 in Cook County Circuit Court, contends that Yu and Seiko Darvish have violated an accord reached last year with the Eylers, who agreed not to object to the Darvishes’ proposal for a 6-foot-tall fence around their property, providing that the fence would be made of wrought iron. The Eylers allege that the Darvishes and their representatives used that initial approval and then subsequently and stealthily undertook a “bait and switch tactic” to gain permission from Evanston officials in October 2018 to install a solid cedar wood fence around much of the property, unbeknownst to the Eylers.
In addition, the Eylers allege in the suit that the Darvishes have blocked a utility easement dedicated some 70 years ago that provides the Eylers with access to Lake Michigan. The Eylers are asking the court to require the Darvishes to remove the newly installed wood fence and to keep the easement clear, along with unspecified damages to be determined at trial.
The seeds of the dispute were planted in mid-2018, when the Darvishes first sought to erect a fence around their property, including in the front yard — which is not permitted in many places in Evanston under Evanston’s zoning code. Evanston’s zoning administrator initially denied the Darvishes’ proposal for a 6-foot tall fence in the front yard. After a private, two-hour meeting with Seiko Darvish and the family’s representatives in July 2018, however, the Eylers agreed not to object to the Darvishes’ appeal to Evanston’s Zoning Board of Appeals of the denial of their application for a fence.
With support from Evanston Ald. Melissa Wynne and the Eylers, Evanston’s Zoning Board of Appeals then granted the Darvishes permission for a lower, 42-inch-high, wrought iron fence in the front yard.
Three months later, however, the Darvishes approached Evanston’s Preservation Commission, seeking permission to erect a 6-foot-tall, solid cedar wood fence around the side and rear yards of the property. The Eylers contend that they were never made aware of that Oct. 9 meeting, and without them in attendance to register their objections, the commission gave the Darvishes the go-ahead for a solid cedar wood fence.
“We were not notified of that meeting,” Alexis Eyler told Elite Street in an interview. “(The Darvishes’ application) fell under old business (on the agenda), and it was supposed to be for an addition that the Darvishes were (seeking approval for). We would have been there otherwise, at least to observe.”
The Eylers cited an easement from the 1940s that grants their property an “unobstructed view of Lake Michigan,” and in the suit, they charge that the solid cedar wood fence violates that easement. City officials have chosen not to intervene in that aspect of the dispute, contending that Evanston has no say over easement agreements involving two private property owners.
The Darvishes’ fence violates that easement, Alexis Eyler said, because it impedes views of Lake Michigan. So while the Eylers still can see the lake from the second floor of their home, from their first floor, “what you see is a fence.”
“Our hope was that we could have a great relationship with them (the Darvishes) and everyone’s needs could be met, and we tried for months to make that happen. We even offered to pay for the difference between a wood and wrought iron fence, and they turned us down,” Alexis Eyler said. “This was a hard decision for my husband and me to do this (to sue), but obviously our quality of life has been impacted, and our property values have been impacted.”
The Darvishes’ lawyer, Arthur Holtzman, said he could not yet comment, as he was still reviewing the suit. Their zoning consultant, Matt Rodgers of KBGA Rodgers, also declined to comment.
The next court date is July 29.
The Cubs signed Darvish to a six-year, $126 million contract in February 2018, and he missed most of the 2018 season with arm trouble. He now has returned this season and is due to start Wednesday night.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
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