Posted on 10/17/2011 6:06:46 PM PDT by Immerito
A zoning board in Fairfax County, Va., is standing firm in its decision to order a war veteran to destroy a tree house he built for his two young sons.
County officials determined Mark Grapin, an Army aviation specialist, violated zoning regulations when he built a tree house in his backyard.
“The boys wanted a tree house,” Grapin told Fox News Radio, explaining it was a promise he made to his 8-year-old and 10-year-old sons before he left for Iraq. “It was a commitment I made to the boys and, frankly, we should do our best to keep our commitments to our children."
So when Grapin returned home, he followed through on that promise and headed off to the local home improvement store. He said he contacted Fairfax County and was given assurances that he didn’t need any special permits to build the $1,400 tree house.
But it turns out – that wasn’t exactly accurate.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
from the pic's posted it looks as nice as the gym set the obama’s put in our White House grounds and I bet his kids never spent an hour enjoying it.. and our next President will just have to have it dismantled as well...
I miss the America of the 50’s what fun we had...the kids today don't know what it is to play hid and seek, or cowboys and Indians nor hopscotch...kids were allowed to be kids then.
Man, buy a boat, take them fishing.
In the meantime, Grapin has had to pay nearly $1,800 in permits and fees to build the $1,400 tree house.
If they make him take it down they should give back all of his money. But you know they won’t.
This to me is the key thing today about zoning and permits. It’s all about revenue to the City/county. I had a zoning Nazi once who spent all of her time driving around looking for infractions. My personal infraction was that I had mildew on the north side of my house. I had three days from the issuance of the notice to ‘get it fixed’, or the fines would start.
Living in swampy Florida means that you ‘will’ have mildew on the north side of your house most of the year. I had a pressure washer to keep the house and driveway clean of the damn stuff.
I found out later that they had a photo data base that they would use to see if any unauthorized, ie. not paid the proper fee, work had been done to the properties.
Glad to see I am not the only one that does not care for this particular breed of vermin.
You wouldn't want to know what I would propose for child welfare types.
Apparently at least one of the neighbors complained anonymously.
Gubmint needs cash. That’s why the gumbint issues building permits, parking tickets, have red-light camera’s and all sorts of other creative ways to generate “cash”.
“What is this world coming to?” Hell in a handbasket, and it’s already here.
We gots to continue feeding the beast or it will devour us all. As it is now, it’s just devouring us a little bit at a time.
I see the vast majority of the people on this thread agree with my way of thinking when it comes to zoning and “permits” to do stuff to your own property. You would be surprised though at how many so called conservatives think zoning and building inspectors are a necessary evil. They are the people who put property values above freedom. They would rather be able to tell their neighbor how to build, what color he can paint his house and how many cars he can have parked on his own property than to have the freedom that comes with owning property in fee simple which is theoretically how we of the USA supposedly own property.
That’s just unbelievable! I’d have to find ways to mess with them if they started harassing me with trivial crapola like that. Maybe go over and spray their house with mildew while they were at work. You know, like that spray-on plant starter they put down on landscaping projects? Or find an opening and fill the interior of their house with a mixture of mildew starter and humid air.
When I was a kid we played “War”,since WWII was in full swing.
Toy guns,bombs,tanks and fighter planes. We all grew up just fine.
Is a risk-free life worth living?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.