First world problems tear Mazama asunder

[Fairweather]

Knock out the deck railing and it would be a great little shack for an aspiring paraglider.

[tvashtarkatena]

Better results if the pilot has headroom enough to get the foil inflated before takeoff.

[Fairweather]

Details. You gotta risk it to get the biscuit.

[Fairweather]

Another nice retirement cabin. Not sure about energy inputs related to the use of concrete vs wood, steel, natural stone.

 

[tvashtarkatena]

Very nice.

[Bronco]

 

Any idea who did this one? or where it is? I like it.

 

 

Judith Mountains, Central Montana see here: http://www.prairiewindarch.com/award.html

 

I worked on this one a bit for Greg Lemond in the Yellowstone Club which is kind of the antonym for small houses... [img:right]http://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/firetower.jpg'>http://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/firetower.jpg[/img]

http://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/firetower.jpg

[Fairweather]

A mutual acquaintance told me that you are a mechanical genius--but I didn't know you build cool houses too. Very nice work.

[JasonG]

As in the cycling Greg LeMond? Cool.

 

And, you should post up a pic of the house you built for yourself over there, I haven't ever seen it.

[genepires]

from the move the hut dot org site.

 

 

To our many friends and supporters: We won the court case against Seattle architect Tom Kundig! Superior Court Judge Culp has ruled that Mr. Kundig and his partners violated the covenants by placing their hut on the ridgeline of Flagg Mountain and must remove it. Not only is this an amazing victory for a small community that banded together to fight a Seattle celebrity architect, but a victory for all who are fighting to preserve the wonder and beauty of unsullied nature. Frank Lloyd Wright had plenty to say on this topic: "No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house should live together each the happier for the other." Many thanks to everyone who made this happen.

[JasonG]

I don't know how big the parcel is that the hut sits on (i.e. other options for placement), but I would have to agree that it wasn't placed to “minimize the visual impact”, as detailed in the covenant.

 

Oh well, it was good theater while it lasted.

 

 

[Bronco]

Fairweather, I don't have a clue who told you that but I'd seriously question their judgement.

 

 

As in the cycling Greg LeMond? Cool.

 

And, you should post up a pic of the house you built for yourself over there, I haven't ever seen it.

 

Yeah, Greg LeMond of the Tour de France. Didn't meet him but he's got a cool mountain estate over there.

 

Here's a pic showing the house and cabin we built. Logging/skidding the trees out was probably the funnest part. Peeling bark with a draw knife and pounding rebar spikes with a 5 lb hammer was obviously the toughest.

 

 

I have days where I miss it but this time of year usually consisted of 18-20 hours of hauling ass around trying to finish projects, lay up some fire wood and get some meat in the freezer before the winter set in. Not "fun" in the traditional sense but we always slept soundly and had purpose to get out of bed before sun-up. I don't have many photos on this computer, maybe I'll load up some others when I get a few minutes on my old lap top.

[Rad]

from the move the hut dot org site.

 

 

To our many friends and supporters: We won the court case against Seattle architect Tom Kundig! Superior Court Judge Culp has ruled that Mr. Kundig and his partners violated the covenants by placing their hut on the ridgeline of Flagg Mountain and must remove it. Not only is this an amazing victory for a small community that banded together to fight a Seattle celebrity architect, but a victory for all who are fighting to preserve the wonder and beauty of unsullied nature. Frank Lloyd Wright had plenty to say on this topic: "No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house should live together each the happier for the other." Many thanks to everyone who made this happen.

 

They must have obtained a permit to build this structure on this site, and it was approved. Whoever approved the permit is the one who should be liable here.

[JasonG]

Interesting and good point, Rad. County staff would have had access to the covenants, but undoubtedly interpreted it differently than the judge. One of the problems of vaguely worded covenants.

 

Bronco- pretty good looking ski terrain right out your back door! But, I know that the long, hard days can/will wear on you. That was my take home from living in the bush for a couple seasons in AK. "Fun", but not terribly sustainable for me either. We have it pretty good here in Western WA!

[num1mc]

They must have obtained a permit to build this structure on this site, and it was approved. Whoever approved the permit is the one who should be liable here.

 

No, building and land use departments are not charged with or capable of policing a HOA. That is purely a civil matter. By your line of thinking, a building permit should not be issued until the department parsed the CC&R's to make sure the window, paint and floor finish schedules met the CC&R, all subsequent board meetings and additional filings to the CC+R's? The building department is charged with making sure a structure is compliant with the law. Nothing more.

[num1mc]

Interesting and good point, Rad. County staff would have had access to the covenants, but undoubtedly interpreted it differently than the judge. One of the problems of vaguely worded covenants

 

They are prohibited by law from enforcing anything other than the IRC (in this case) or local amendments legally adopted by the county

[Kimmo]

from the move the hut dot org site.

 

 

To our many friends and supporters: We won the court case against Seattle architect Tom Kundig! Superior Court Judge Culp has ruled that Mr. Kundig and his partners violated the covenants by placing their hut on the ridgeline of Flagg Mountain and must remove it. Not only is this an amazing victory for a small community that banded together to fight a Seattle celebrity architect, but a victory for all who are fighting to preserve the wonder and beauty of unsullied nature. Frank Lloyd Wright had plenty to say on this topic: "No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house should live together each the happier for the other." Many thanks to everyone who made this happen.

 

 

Good news indeed!

 

I spent some time at a friend's place in Mazama recently, and became somewhat informed of the situation.

 

What struck me the most was how one monied individual seemingly had such complete disregard for local tradition.

 

The idea of the mountain tops littered with buildings a la Winthrop is disturbing, and the covenant was in place to prevent this, so I am happy the judge ruled this way.

[Kimmo]

Whoever approved the permit is the one who should be liable here.

 

nah, I think kundig himself should be (is) liable, since he knew very well about local opinion and the covenant, choosing to disregard them.

[JasonG]

The idea of the mountain tops littered with buildings a la Winthrop is disturbing, and the covenant was in place to prevent this, so I am happy the judge ruled this way.

 

I seem to remember reading that there aren't many private parcels on the ridgetops around Mazama.

 

Thanks for the legal clarification on covenants.

[Off_White]

I like that they cite an even larger "celebrity architect" to validate their victory over Kundig. Yippee, one set of wealthy folks got their way over the other wealthy folks! Celebrity architect vanquished by humble software maven! What a victory for nature, eh?

[num1mc]

I think the defendants would have won in a typical case, because the CC&R's were vague. But once it had a unlimited budget for the lawyers, it became a toss-up.

[num1mc]

 

Thanks for the legal clarification on covenants.

 

Think of it this way, it took several hundred of thousands of dollars, several months and hundreds of pages for a Superior Court judge to make a decision on the meaning of the covenants. How could a intern at the Building and Land Use department make a decision in an afternoon.

[tvashtarkatena]

This is a victory for bored, aging nouveau riche outsiders everywhere.

 

A round of Range Rovers for the legal team!

[mountainsandsound]

I notice a lot of city of seattle parking stickers right beside the fun little Mazama or Methow stickers on the rear windows of cars there.

[NateF]

I notice a lot of judgmental people post here.

[mountainsandsound]

I judged that their vehicles hailed from Seattle.

 

I'm not actually into rural vs. urban, we all live some place where a job, family obligations, etc... all conspire to locate us. I just wasn't aware of the Seattle area contingency there until recently.

Edited October 17, 2014 by mountainsandsound