The next step was finding the government records connected with the permit number. I went to the county development services office and requested the public file for the stormwater project. The file included an approved civil plan, stormwater calculations, erosion control documents, permit materials, inspection notes, revision history, and exhibits showing the drainage easements.
That evening, I spread the county records across the same kitchen table where I had reviewed my closing documents. The approved plan contained a county approval stamp in the revision block, while the photographed drawing from the contractor's truck did not show the same approval information. The approved route crossed common property before connecting to the existing drainage system. The trench behind my house followed a different alignment, and I could not find any entry authorizing construction through the section of my yard already being excavated.
The following morning, I contacted the county and asked whether another approved field revision existed under a separate file number. While waiting for their response, I hired Maya Ellison, a licensed civil engineer with experience in stormwater systems.
I gave Maya the deed, recorded plat, county plans, site photographs, and everything I had obtained from the HOA. I did not ask her to prove that Vanessa was wrong, because I wanted an independent technical answer: I wanted to know whether the construction occurring behind my garage was inside the area described by the approved project documents.
Maya visited the property two days later and compared the field conditions with the civil plan and parcel information. Her preliminary conclusion was that the installed alignment was outside the approved construction limits. More importantly, the route crossed an area where the recorded drainage easement shown in my title documents did not exist.
That sounded decisive, but Maya warned me not to stop the investigation there: construction projects can sometimes be changed in the field when the proper revisions are reviewed and accepted; the critical question was whether anyone with authority had actually approved the departure from the original plan.
That warning sent me back into the HOA records with a clearer purpose. Buried inside a contractor document attached to a board packet was a phrase referring to a "field-directed alternate alignment." The description mentioned a shorter western leg of the drainage project and listed reduced excavation quantities. Fewer excavation quantities meant fewer labor hours, less restoration, and ultimately lower project costs.
I requested the contractor's change proposal and the HOA correspondence associated with that alternate route. Vanessa responded by accusing me of harassing association vendors and interfering with essential infrastructure work. I saved that message alongside everything else, because each new threat was becoming another part of the record.
Through an attorney I had consulted, I also sent a preservation request instructing the HOA and contractor not to delete project emails, field instructions, meeting records, photographs, or change order documents.