Fate of Falls Church Tree House Comes Down to Nov. 30 Hearing

All Mark Grapin wanted to do was build a tree house for his 11 and 9-year-old sons to play in. Daily, while serving a yearlong tour in Iraq with the United States Army, Grapin doodled down plans for the dream tree house.

In April, a month after he started construction on the tree house, he received a letter from a Fairfax County zoning enforcement inspector notifying him he was in violation of a zoning ordinance. The ordinance, 10-104(12c), prohibits county residents from building an accessory structure in their front yard. The tree house is built in his front yard.

On Sept. 21, the board of zoning appeals voted 4-3 for Grapin to tear the tree house down. He filed an appeal and a second hearing has been set for Nov. 30, which will decide the fate of the tree house.

“I hope things go our way,” Grapin said. “At some point this just gets silly.”

Grapin completed construction of the tree house in June and has spent more than $1400 in building supplies. He has spent more in administrative fees fighting to keep the tree house up. Grapin said he $885 for his permit application, $975 to have plats drawn and more than $50 in certified mail to Fairfax County officials. County spokeswoman Merni Fitzgerald said Grapin started building the tree house without calling zoning first.

Fitzgerald said the county has received several complaints about the tree house but refused to say who made the complaints. She said his first attempt to get a variance was denied. The county looks at a set of requirements in each variance application before deciding to pass or deny it. She said this is not a matter for the Board of Supervisors.

“The board of appeals didn’t think his application met the requirements,” Fitzgerald said.

Grapin said he never received any complaints from anyone but has had several people stop by to marvel at the tree house. A neighbor, Roscoe Eagle, even wrote a letter to the BZA in support of the tree house.

The tree house is more than six feet off the ground, features a sliding board, windows, and wooden shutters and can be entered by climbing ropes around the back or through a set of steps on the bottom. Grapin has even installed a smoke detector for extra safety.

“Others have asked if I would build one for them,” Grapin said. “I’m not a contractor. I just did this for my kids.”

If his Nov. 30 hearing doesn’t go in his favor, Grapin said he doesn’t know how his sons will deal with it. After their first loss Sept. 21, he said one of his sons took the news hard and asked, “Did we lose.”

“If I don’t prevail with this, I’m going to get some day laborers and let them take it down,” Grapin said. “I can’t do it.”