"Hobbit House" built of natural materials must be demolished

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by Hopes

That works too!

I'm guessing that is not going to happen becsue if that were the case it wouldn't be in place to begin with.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

I'm guessing that is not going to happen becsue if that were the case it wouldn't be in place to begin with.

I know. But it's a cool house. I wish consideration could be made like my local government does.

[QIS]

That staircase is enough for me! ( ok...and the guard railings). The cuteness factor is negated by their own circumvention of the law. Folks...take your plans into the AHJ and have them help you make a neat idea safe and functional. Codes and standards help reduce the need to predict/hope.
Variances are granted for individual projects all the time.... We don't have both sides of the story here:it may be just too hard to reconcile the violations in this case w/o starting over.
Does anyone want to guess the attention to detail Mr. Sculptor paid to plumbing and electrical details? and does it have a private waste water disposal system??? (the pond?)

[Hopes]

The end of the article says the owners have one last chance and have applied for a "retrospective planning permission."

So, it might be possible they can resolve this issue similarly to how my township handles these matters.

[QIS]

It would be nice if they could get the press to do a follow up with what happened including any changes...
The US has LOTS of homes like this...in SO Cal there are are large areas with shacks build to satisfy homesteading requirements and they have morphed into residences ....some are quite charming ,yet, NO permits were ever required!

[armory]

Government - is there nothing they can't do to intrude into our lives?

At one time you didn't need to pay fees (taxes) to build structures on your own property. Once the collective got involved the government was given free reign to dictate what you can/can't do. People actually invite this into their lives and applaud it.

If you build it and it fails its on you. There is no recourse and that's it. If it goes up in flames its on you. That is the way it was supposed to be until people started believing the BS they were told by government and those who finance their campaigns.

It may sound harsh but life isn't supposed to be easy. If it was we would all be on easy street.

[nybbler]

Originally Posted by QIS

Variances are granted for individual projects all the time....

And what are the chances these two had the cash and knew the protocols to get a variance granted? Zero.

Note that it's nothing to do with safety: "harmed the character and appearance of the countryside".

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by nybbler

Note that it's nothing to do with safety: "harmed the character and appearance of the countryside".

Which is a downright silly reason.

[caligirlz]

The US rules don't apply to this situation

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by caligirlz

The US rules don't apply to this situation

That might be a good thing. Maybe they'll have chance after all!