Boy's treehouse must come down, Mpls board rules

A city board ruled last night that a treehouse in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis must come down. The treehouse's owners said they will probably appeal again.

Clem Pryke built the treehouse in the summer of 2012 for his 13-year-old son Daniel on the 1800 block of Emerson Avenue South. The backyard treehouse is made of cedar and includes windows and a porch. It sits 22 feet up a big tree, about 12 feet from the nearest house to the south.

The closest neighbor filed a complaint just a few months after the treehouse was built and an inspector found that it violates city code. Pryke said he's sympathetic to the neighbor's concerns, but that many houses in Minneapolis are spaced more closely together than the treehouse and neighbor's house.

"It's a very nice treehouse, but due to the location of the only large tree on the property, you can see it on the street," Pryke said. "All the neighbors on the block with the exception of the immediate neighbor like it."

For the last two years, Pryke and city inspectors have gone back and forth on the treehouse. Pryke started a petition and then challenged the inspector's decision at Thursday's meeting of the Minneapolis Zoning Board of Adjustment, which voted unanimously against the treehouse.

Daniel spoke at the hearing last night.

"He's a young boy and he sees it very emotionally," Pryke said. "He loves his treehouse, and he's very sad and upset that it has to be put down."

If Pryke chooses to appeal, it will go to the Minneapolis City Council's Zoning and Planning Committee. Pryke said he'll probably appeal the board's decision, but wants to talk with city council members first to see whether changing the code is a possibility in this case.