How to Save a Treehouse from a Zoning Board

It was supposed to be a "slice of Americana and of childhood dreams," says U.S. Army Specialist Mark Grapin, who lives in Fairfax County, Virginia. He's talking about the treehouse he built for his two sons after returning from his latest tour of duty in Iraq.

What Grapin didn't expect was that Fairfax County's zoning board would demand he tear down the treehouse after an anonymous complaint, thus launching the family into an eight-month legal battle.

Grapin went to the local media for help and public outcry turned into an online petition. A neighbor donated trees to cover the treehouse, and the family even received a pro bono lawyer to help win over board members.

Just days before the treehouse was to be torn down, Grapin was able to convince the board to let him keep it on the condition it be removed after five years. Plenty of time, he says, for his sons to enjoy it.

About 2 minutes.
Produced by Joshua Swain.

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Category:

News & Politics

[dlstb]

@catothewiser You ignorant fucking moron! I am the one who believes in personal property and a human being's right to own property and have liberty. You are the one who believes that your have a right to control what others do on their property because it might affect the value of your property when you don't want it anymore. Your property rights don't give you the right to tell others what they can or cannot do on THEIR property.

[iamchillydogg]

Because it's a corner lot the tree house is in the FRONT yard. I'd be pissed too if a neighbor built a big ass tree house in their front yard.

[SaroDarksbane]

@catothewiser The value of a particular piece of property resides entirely in the mind of others, so unless you can have a private property right in the minds of others, no. Zoning laws CAN protect private property rights, if the property in question is physically affecting your property (pollution, for example), but the subjective value of an item is not property. To disagree with this would be to open a HUGE can of worms.

[catothewiser]

@SaroDarksbane - of course you do - that is why there are zoning laws.

[SaroDarksbane]

@antimarxism There's nothing in libertarian philosophy that necessitates the following of an unjust law. It may be a smart idea (to avoid having men with guns kick down your door), but it's not a moral imperative.

[SaroDarksbane]

@catothewiser You don't have a right to the value of your property.

[MrJaimeBurbano]

Thiis should really be titiled:

How to Save a Treehouse from the Nazi Zoning Board!!!!!!

[TheElusive]

This is how we'll win our country back. Absolutely!

[prov6yahoo]

I see the fact that this is in a front yard as a big problem. Nobody builds a treehouse in a front yard. Also I do not like that veterans get special treatment over mere people. The main reason people join the military is because they cannot find a better paying job. If no one joined the military we would have a much safer world.

[LibertyTreeBud]

I loved my treehouse that my dad built for my brother, sister and I. Zoning Boards are in desperate need of re-tooling their M.O. Tiny homes on wheels and tiny homes built for specific needs are a growing trend as people need special care and families move in with one another. Garden Sheds are going up to help store the things one need to grow food to live and that might include chickens or ducks or goats. It's a new world. Somebody might pay down the road to live in that treehouse & be glad 4it

[wannabeRanger0321]

@MaverickWhig This has cleared the whole thing up. My first post I admitted to not knowing anything about the Army uniform. What caught my eye was that in the video and description it called him a Specialist. You can see how to someone who knows just shy of enough would instantly toss the bullshit flag high in the air. Again, my first post says it all. I didn't know anything about the Army uniform other then there's no way a Specialist is that decorated, and in the Guard, there are E4s that old