I kind of figured this was going to get interesting;
The South Dakota Supreme Court says the owners of a controversial house in McKennan Park will have to rebuild their home to comply with historical standards.
In their decision, the state Supreme Court wrote: “This is a difficult case. Both parties presented compelling cases, and substantial harm will befall whichever party does not prevail. But the historic regulations apply to Sapienzas’ home, the circuit court clearly balanced the relative hardships, and it applied the required factors for injunctive relief.”
So I talked to a couple people who knew people that were close to the case so I could get some perspective (I read the 21 page decision, and was pretty confused). So here is the gist;
The fireplace setback was thrown out, because there was conflicting setbacks.
10 Feet will have to removed from the top of the house to come into compliance, but it seems the footprint is OK.
A historical façade (which was a part of the original plan) will have to be added to house to come into compliance.
The city will not be sued, simply because, as I understand it, the Sapienzas missed the filing deadline, and the SDSC ruled against suing the city.
I’m thinking since it will be very difficult to cut ten feet off the roof, and all the embarrassment from this ordeal, I’m betting the house gets sold on auction to someone who might want to move it, or salvage it before getting torn down.
As I understand it, the Sapienzas cashed in their Country Club membership recently and plan to move back to Philly. Not sure if this is true, but whether they stay or leave, hopefully they learned that East Coast Elitism doesn’t fly in our town.