A Calgary father is worried he'll be forced to tear down a $5,000 play structure he built for his kids, less than a year after the city assured him it would be OK to build it.
The two-storey plywood structure resembles a guard tower, with a door, wood slats on the outside walls, windows near the top and a ladder leading to the second floor.
Klay Hafeez says he checked with bylaw officials before he built the playhouse in his backyard last summer. But now, he's awaiting an appeal decision on whether he'll be forced to demolish it.
"I'm feeling very helpless," Hafeez told CTV Calgary on Tuesday.
Hafeez says he submitted plans for the playhouse to the city before he built it, and was informed at the time that he could go ahead with construction.
"I was told as long as it's under 10 metres square and under 15 feet (4.6 metres) high, I didn't need a permit and I can go ahead and design and build my playhouse," Hafeez said.
But the city later told him to remove a balcony and an outside ladder from the playhouse. Then, after Hafeez amended his plans and built the structure, the city told him he actually did need a permit.
"I want to know what to do, but every time I go to the land department, it seems like a struggle," he said.
Hafeez says his three boys have been planning to hold their birthday parties in the playhouse this summer, but that won't happen if he's forced to tear it down.
"It's going to shatter their dreams," he said.
Bylaw officials argue that the structure is not allowed to have two storeys, and that it violates the setback limit because it's built too close to the property line.
According to guidelines on the city's website, detached structures must be under 10 sq. metres and under 4.6 metres high from the floor to the top. They also indicate that the eavesline must be no higher than 3 metres from the floor, and that it must be only one storey in height.
The bylaw only allows for a second storey if it is used as an attic. In order to be considered an attic, the second storey needs to have no windows and should be accessible only by a removable ladder. "The attic is allowed to have a maximum height of 1.5 metres measured from the attic floor to the underside of any rafter," the city says.
The windows of Hafeez' playhouse are installed on the second floor.
Judy Lutton, of Calgary's City Planning and Development Department, says the decision is now in the hands of Calgary's Subdivision Development and Appeal Board.
"I'd like to apologize for the experience that Mr. Hafeez has gone through," she told CTV Calgary.
Hafeez says only one neighbour has complained about the structure, and that neighbour has since moved away.
The father of three made his case to the board last week, but he says he was told not to expect a favourable result.
Earlier this year, a Toronto father resolved a long battle with bylaw officials over a pirate ship playhouse in his backyard. The man was allowed to keep the $30,000 play structure, after making a few necessary adjustments.
With files from CTV Calgary
