choked &%$#*@&

[recycling goddess]

oh man... we went out and bought a shed and playhouse made of cedar so our kids could have a GREAT fort to play in. you know, keep them off the streets and out of the parks at night... give them a place to hang out. (our kids are 7 and 12) - so the little one gets to play in it during the day and the teenagers hang out in it at night.

we've been working like crazy on it. the shed is 8' x 6' and we have it beside the house and we put the playhouse 6' x 6' on top of it, cut a hole in the floor and made a trap door and a ladder inside the shed so the kids can go up and down... and we can lock the shed from the inside so the older ones can camp out in it in the summer. we stained it to match the house, put a red border on it to make it just like our house... looks great by the way (not quite finished but almost there)

so today the district rep. comes to our door and says we have to stop work on it and get rid of it.

it has to be 1.5 metres from the property line (that's 5') and there isn't that much room available there (and no where else to put it) we've place it at the top of our driveway beside the garage and there's only 9' between the garage and the fence...

and it can't be over 12' and it'll be about 14' with the roof.

AND even though it's stacked and really a two story playhouse (as they'll use the bottom for a playhouse and then in years to come, we'll use it as a shed when they are done with it) they consider it two buildings and since we have a shed in the backyard... we can only have one more building in the yard!

this sucks! we paid so much $$ for the wood and stain and all the labour we've put into it and now it has to go.

my hubby is going to talk to the district rep next week...

i'm so disappointed for my kids. people across the street have a playhouse with a shed below it that's waaaaaaaay higher than ours... this isn't fair

[alexrls]

I hate The Man

if your lucky you could get a variance. i hope it works out..

[shhhli]

Oh I hope everything works out for you guys- i mean, taking the kids' clubhouse! How cold. I can understand some ordinances, but this- seriously. Wtc.

[recycling goddess]

i am so hoping there's something we can do to make this work. i haven't been able to tell the kids... they are going to be so sad

[daniel1983]

Always check local ordinances and subdivision ordinances before doing any construction or 'buying big stuff'. I deal with this kinda stuff daily at work(subdivision development and public design projects)..... and it can become a mess and tons of trouble if certain things are not known.

I know people that have bought boats drove them home...then were told that they must find an out-of-subdivision storage area because in the subdivision ordinance they do not allow boat or RVs to be stored on the property in order to 'keep up appearances'.

It really sucks that you were unaware of the 'rules' before building. If the rep says nothing can be done, make sure you get your hubby to get a copy the ordinance and read the document.......there may be sometype of loophole in the wording.

Let me know how it goes and what it says exactly and maybe I could be some help....however, I really don't know how these kinda things are handled in Canada

[recycling goddess]

thanks daniel... i'll keep you in mind if we have problems

[Kara]

If nothing else, make sure Hubby has pics of your bawling children to take with him to show the ordinance people what happens when you stomp all over little kids' dreams. Tell the zoning f-wits that they're robbing your little ones of a wholesome past time, and will now be forced to rot their brains with TV, video games, marijuana & eventually crack. Let them know that the "zoning rules & laws" will turn your darling babies into drug-addled derelicts that are forced to sell themselves on the street corner to support...

Wait. Ok. Maybe that's a bit extreme. But you get my point. Twist that knife!!! Hell...want ME to go deal with them for you?

K~

[recycling goddess]

i'm really hoping something can be worked out. the kids have wanted this playhouse/clubhouse/hang out for so long... and we finally had the money to buy the materials (which by the way is over $1000) and now... it's kindling

so everyone, cross your fingers and toes for us!

[recycling goddess]

well... they are being real difficult with this. they do NOT want it in our front yard and now they are saying we aren't caring for our backyard properly!

my yard is serenity garden... with a pond and waterfall... ferns and flowers fill the yard... many trees as well... surrounded by 20 ft high cedar bushes... really beautiful... they don't like our yard and are making some 'threats' in that regard but i can't imagine they'll be able to force us to turn it to grass????

but... i think we are going to have to remove the shed in the backyard and replace it with this new one (shed/clubhouse/playhouse combo) instead of having the clubhouse in the front yard.

so we'll see what happens now.

please send light and love to this situation... assisting us to create this safe place for our kids to hang out.

[joepythons]

Wait a minute i thought we lived in America!!!!! Who are these people to tell you what should be in your yard .As long as you do not have junk cars or garbage all over YOUR property who are they to tell you what looks nice or not!!! I tell you this world is getting ridiculous.