All Louis and Kelly Lentine wanted to do, they told members of Signal Mountain’s Board of Zoning Appeals, was build a pergola in the side yard of their St. Ives home for their family to enjoy.

But the resulting wood and stone structure – complete with a large, impressive stone fireplace – has neighboring landowner Jason Taylor seeing red.

Mr. Taylor, whose property line sits just 10 feet away from the pergola, admitted it is well constructed and attractive. Taylor, whose property line sits just 10 feet away from the pergola, admitted it is well constructed and attractive.

But that doesn’t change the fact, he said, that it violates the town’s 15-foot side yard setback requirements and, therefore, is too close to his property. Further, he noted, the Lentines failed to get a building permit for the structure. It should be torn down, he said flatly.

For BZA members, the dispute over what can and cannot be built on the property at 31 Ridgerock Road is “déjà vu all over again.”

The board’s first go-round with the property occurred in 2009, when then-owners Tom and Mary McLean began building an outdoor dining area with a roof on virtually the same spot where the Lentines now want a gazebo.

He had no idea such a project was planned, Mr. Taylor said during a 2009 BZA meeting triggered by the structure, until July 2, 2008 when he returned from a two-week business trip “and saw four pillars and a roof” looming in his neighbors’ yard.

Mr. Taylor said he ran into the McLeans a few days later. “Are we allowed to have those in our neighborhood?” he recalled asking, “and she said, ‘well, it was pre-approved.’ ”

Mr. Taylor objected, pointing out that the structure violated the town’s side yard setback regulation, which requires that sheds, gazebos and other outbuildings be at least 15 feet from property lines. The McLeans responded by requesting a variance.

That request was denied and the structure – all but a portion of the fireplace – was torn down seven years ago.

Now, he said, he has to fight the same battle again; “I am just so frustrated!” he told BZA members.

He doesn’t hold the Lentines to blame, he said. “I’m sorry you all got dragged into this,” he told them.

That’s precious little comfort to his neighbors, who showed up at the BZA hearing accompanied by their attorney, John Anderson, and a court reporter.

When they purchased a foreclosed house at 31 Ridgerock Road three years ago, the Lentines said, they had no idea that it was at the center of a long-simmering feud and a slew of zoning-related lawsuits – some of which remain unsettled to this day.

Likewise, they had no idea that the pergola they built would become the focus of a new controversy.

It isn’t fair, attorney Anderson argued, for his clients to be dragged into a zoning battle they were not even aware existed when work on the pergola began.

BZA members agreed. “You have been put in a terrible position that you should never have been in . . . by the realtor and the previous owners,” they observed.

Then, they voted unanimously to deny a variance that would have allowed the structure to stand.

After the vote, attorney Anderson said it is too soon to know whether this dispute – like the earlier ones – will once more wind up in court.