After some time off for the holidays I decided to start off with an entry which is a little different than our standard fare.
A family in Stonington, Connecticut is facing $54,000 in fines because their tiny 6′x8′ play house is being considered a storage shed.
Now folks, this is a very small structure. It is not large enough for 3 adults to comfortably hang out in for any length of time. I know because my daughter has a 6′x8′ playhouse very similar to the one in question.
The town of Stonington will not give the homeowner a variance (why?) however they will waive the fines if she gets rid of her daughters play house.
The fines have been racking up for a year at $150 per day and what makes this even more bizarre is that the neighbor installed a much larger shed without a permit years ago. The neighbor, Thomasina O’Boyle, does not have to remove the shed because she had it for more than 3 years before the town found out about it. She has received a special variance due to the length of time.
What makes this story even more odd is that O’Boyle resigned from the zoning board last month. Favoritism? Me thinks yes.
In the town of Stonington a Swing set, Play set or Play structure is exempt from zoning yet they refuse to consider this tiny play hosue a play structure.
There has to be a point where we draw the line. Understandably, there are zoning regulations for a reason but if every play house or fort was to be considered a “shed” and fall under the zoning regulations for a shed then every tree house would require a permit and would have to meet the towns/states building codes.
There is obviously something more to the story and now that it has been on the local news and has been picked up by countless newpapers it appears that the powers that be have a fair amount of egg on their collective faces.
