United and Divided by A Driveway

By Karen Tanner Allen
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, May 5, 2007

The joy of sharing can be overrated when it comes to driveways.

Lee Goldstein found that out during the three years his family shared a driveway with neighbors in Silver Spring. "It was miserable," he recalled.

All four cars for both houses could fit at once, if they were staggered so the driver's doors could open. But the next-door neighbors were protective of the invisible property line down the driveway's center. The Goldsteins felt scrutinized whenever they washed a car, shoveled snow or removed groceries from their trunk.

Goldstein and his wife, Teasa, sold the house in 2005, in part because of the driveway. "If they're good neighbors, it can work out very well," Goldstein said. Otherwise, "it puts you into contact with these people more often than you'd want to be."

Arrangements whereby one driveway serves two houses -- or sometimes three -- show up in neighborhoods all over the District, as well as in older sections of the suburbs, including Bethesda, Silver Spring, Arlington and Falls Church. They also appear in newer developments, usually when a new house is built behind an older one with just one way out.

Many home buyers pay scant attention to driveway logistics when they decide on a house. In a crowded metropolitan area, they may be grateful just to have an off-street spot for a car. But, as Goldstein said, a joint driveway requires more cooperation with the neighbors than simply sharing a fence.

Typically, one driveway runs between two houses, leading to separate garages or carports behind the homes. Sometimes the property line runs down the middle. Or the driveway for one house serves as an easement to reach the garage or carport of the second house.

Shoveling snow, raking leaves, maintaining the surface and agreeing where to park all are issues that must be discussed. Chores such as putting out the garbage or unloading a car can mean daily interaction.

Usually it works out just fine, homeowners and real estate agents say.

"Getting to know your neighbors and making sure you all get along is the most important thing about a shared driveway," said Natasha Saifee, who has lived with her husband, Salim, in a Chevy Chase bungalow with a joint driveway for six years. "Once you get used to it, it's not that big of a deal."

The extra interaction can even be a benefit, she said. In a documentary on Chevy Chase that aired recently on public television, Saifee said the community's many common driveways contributed to stronger ties among residents.

She reiterated the point while standing on the back porch of the bungalow in early spring. "It definitely fosters a greater sense of intimacy or community among people," said Saifee, a mother of 2 1/2 -year-old twins and council member for the Village of Chevy Chase Section 3. "We see [our neighbors] on a daily basis. . . . It's actually very nice."

On cue, neighbor Edward Stephens drove in, parked in his garage, closed the car door and gave Saifee a friendly wave. He then came over to talk.

Common driveways came about in older, denser neighborhoods where houses were built before two-car households and the family SUV. For example, Chevy Chase was developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s as the suburban ideal, according to Mary Anne Hoffman, executive producer of the Chevy Chase Historical Society's documentary, "Chevy Chase, Maryland: A Streetcar to Home."

In that early streetcar suburb, shared driveways allowed people to have as much lawn and greenery as possible, said Hoffman, who happily shares a driveway with her neighbors in Chevy Chase.

For environmentally conscious urban planners today, joint driveways remain an option. They can reduce the amount of impervious surface, improving drainage and preserving green space, according to William Klein, research director for the American Planning Association in Chicago.

If "you can share your driveway with your neighbor, you stand the chance of having that much more green area on your property," Klein said. Having fewer driveways also reduces the number of curb cuts, allowing more space on the street for parking, Klein said.

Nevertheless, such arrangements are not the norm, or even very popular. The modern suburban ideal usually includes tidy rows of houses, each with its own driveway leading to its own garage. No one's dream house includes a shared driveway, said T.J. Murphy, a real estate agent in Long & Foster's Foggy Bottom office.

"I've never had any of my clients in Washington or Maryland ask me to please find them a house with a shared driveway," said Murphy, who has been selling houses for 17 years. "When you spend a million dollars for your own castle, you want to have control over your access to it."

But other real estate agents have noticed that as long as other criteria are met, a shared driveway won't quash a deal. Goldstein, who also sells real estate at Long & Foster, said the driveway wasn't a factor when he sold his own house two years ago -- a Dutch Colonial in the North Woodside section of Silver Spring. Nor, somewhat to his surprise, have clients cared about it in many other home sales since.

Based partly on his own experience, he advises clients to make sure they understand the terms of the driveway easement -- and also what it will mean to share.

Todd Deckelbaum, a D.C. real estate settlement lawyer, said home buyers should have all the specifications of a joint driveway or easement in writing before they close on a house. "Oral agreements are not enforceable," he said.

There should be a document that describes the joint driveway in detail: its size, where the property line falls and who is responsible for maintaining the property. A title search should uncover such an agreement; otherwise, it should be drawn up. The agreement should include either a legal description or a drawing provided by a surveyor that shows the property line. In other words, home purchasers "should know what they're buying," Deckelbaum said.

Legal disputes can occur when one homeowner's renovation plan calls for a variance that encroaches on the driveway or when a structure such as a gate impedes access for the other homeowner. Disagreements also arise over who is responsible for maintenance and paving costs.

Most agree that the best strategy for sharing a driveway is simply to be a good neighbor. Many driveways widen like a lollipop behind the houses to allow for garages or parking spaces for each household. Some families take advantage of the combined asphalt to create a bigger off-street blacktop for basketball hoops, yard sales or barbecues.

Chris Meyerhoff gestured to the downhill-sloping driveway between his house and another in the Chevy Chase section of the District. "This is a kids' play area, is what it is," he said. "It gets used more for fun than for driving." Over the years, his children, now 12 and 14, have whiled away many hours riding down the driveway on sleds, skateboards or scooters with other kids from the neighborhood.

Stephens, a retired government worker, said he and his wife have enjoyed the considerate relationship and the friendship they have with their relatively new neighbors, the Saifees. But their predecessor, a woman who lived there for about 25 years, had operated the house as a bed-and-breakfast. Many mornings, Stephens and his wife would wake up to cars crammed all over the driveway, even under their magnolia tree. "It was a constant battle," Stephens said.

For his part, Lee Goldstein said he felt happy every time he turned into the driveway of his new house elsewhere in Montgomery County and no longer had to worry about the neighbors.

"It's not a big driveway," he said. But "it's nice and wide, and it's our own."