Flintstones, Sue the Flintstones

California town isn't happy with 15-foot dinosaur statues, sues owner of colorful house
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 19, 2019 10:07 AM CDT
Town Sues Over Big Changes at Flintstone House
Decorative dinosaurs have been erected at the property since this 2007 photo was taken. The house is now bright red, purple, and orange.   (Wikimedia)

California's Flintstone House is on the verge of becoming much less Flintstone-esque. The colorful house in the shape of boulders has irritated neighbors in Hillsborough for years. But attorneys for the town have now filed a lawsuit, painting the owner's latest additions as the last straw, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Since purchasing the property for $2.8 million in 2017, media mogul Florence Fang has erected a sign reading "Yabba Dabba Doo" and added a statued menagerie of prehistoric animals, including dinosaurs up to 15 feet tall. That the property perched on a hillside above Interstate 280 is now a "highly visible eyesore" is just part of the town's problem, per the Los Angeles Times. Arguing that the proper permits weren't obtained, attorneys say the property is also a hazard to visitors. They don't want to turn the place to rubble, but say Fang's decorations must go.

Indeed, the former publisher of the San Francisco Examiner may have no other choice. Attorneys say Fang didn't challenge an October order to remove the decorations by December, and even paid a $200 fine, meaning it's now set in stone. Hillsborough's Administrative Hearing Panel had then ruled the decorations were "designed to be very intrusive, resulting in the owner’s vision for her property being imposed on many other properties and views." It wasn't the first Fang had heard of the town's displeasure. From December 2017 through August, she was sent three notices to stop altering the property. Officials say she'd been granted a permit to build a 2-foot-high retaining wall but went well beyond those parameters, also constructing a deck and parking area. A relative says Fang "will fight to save the Flintstone House," per Sky News. (More California stories.)

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