Boo! A setback with the timeframe

Before Christmas, a surveyor came out and posted a stakes around the perimeter of our house to be. When we came home that afternoon, we were surprised to find that one corner of our house would be seriously close to my in-laws' house. Like, we could pass things between houses close.
Joern and the architect had worked hard to put the house as close to the front border as possible, finally, splitting our two-car garage into 2 one car garages in two different places. Joern went to the county building department to talk about the placement of the house. There will be a new law in March that will allow us to build one meter further away from my in-laws' house. Joern called the architect, and had him get in contact with the district building office.
When we got back from America, we got an email from the architect that we still have to keep the house where the surveyor had marked out. He did not talk to the same person Joern spoke with, and this person said we'd have to wait until March to put through the building permit with the change that we want.
So, right now, we're in limbo, again. We may need to wait until March to put in the permit, which stinks. We were supposed to break ground in March.
GRRRR!

On a good note, we found out that Joern's friend Markus has gone in on building a duplex in our new mini-neighborhood. This means we already know, and like, one of our neighbors!