Posted on 08/24/2006 9:42:29 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
RIVERTON A homeowner has removed the vent cover that he claimed was abstract art of a cactus and neighbors interpreted as a rude hand gesture pointed their way.
"We're just glad that it's down and over with," said Sharon Easton, who lives up the hill from Darren Wood's house and had a full view of the covering.
The Eastons and Stan Torgersen's family had been in a yearlong dispute with Wood and considered the image a direct message to them.
Wood sent a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune on Wednesday that said his "decision to place the controversial cactus would have made sense to only those involved.
"We as a family are looking forward to seeing this chapter of a third-grade spat come to a close," Wood said, adding that total costs of the construction interruption due to his neighbors' complaints reached $25,000.
Sharon Easton's husband, Mark, said he is trying to organize a meeting with Wood, but had "expressed to him that I am sorry for any discomfort that I have caused his family or him, and that I had no intent to do any harm to him when I called the city with my concern about safety."
The conflict started when the Woods excavated dirt from a hill on which the Eastons' and Torgersens' houses sit. The two families contacted the city, worried about the stability of the hill. Wood said he was forced to push back the timeline for completion of his home to conduct and pay for a soil test.
When Wood raised the frames for his house a few months ago, the Eastons and Torgersens contacted the city, contending its height might violate code. The frames rose higher than most rooftops near Wood's lot and partially obstruct the Eastons' and Torgersens' eastern view of the mountains.
In an earlier statement Wood conceded the house might be over the limit by a little more than a foot. But once the house is finished, and the soil and landscaping laid out, he believes it will be within regulations.
The Eastons said the Torgersens are on vacation this week and aren't aware of the downed cactus.
"I'm sure they will be very happy that it's been removed," Mark Easton said. "And probably relieved."
This is "Cactus" art if I ever saw it
They plan to tamp the soil down THAT much, eh.
Looks like the "United Way" logo...
Somebody didn't have a normal sense of humor about this....
This UTAH!!
Maybe if he'd put up a stylized artwork of a person bent over, pants down, "mooning", that might be considered obscene.
A goatse hand gesture, now -that's- obscene:
That "cactus" is actually very clever.
Yeah, it is. And I bet if he hadn't been having a feud with his neighbors, the exact same design would have been considered very stylish in an Art Deco sort of way.
One foot of top soil will be able to keep the house within regulations.
I would have told the neighbors to go to hell.
"I would have told the neighbors to go to hell.
"
Looks to me like that's just about what he did. Pity he took it down.
They plan to tamp the soil down THAT much, eh.
NO, he is going to show them how poorly written thier assinine law is. It probably states the Gable can only be X FEET above ground level instead of "X" feet from the slab. SO, he is going to raise "GROUND LEVEL" around his house by the distance needed to bring the gable within "regulations"
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