A woman decided to take matters into her own hands when her city’s board of architectural review rejected her demolition project.
WCBD reports a Charleston, South Carolina, woman wanted to demolish her 1930s home but the city’s BAR said no because they considered it historic property. So, in what the city calls a “really bizarre scenario,” she attached the house to a big ol’ truck and hit the gas, hoping to tear it down herself.
The woman was caught in the act before she could complete the task, but she did get what she wanted in the end — the home was past the point of rehabilitation. Because the house was too far gone, city officials granted the permit.
As for the woman, she has to pay the maximum fine for her misdeed — a whopping $1,087.
John Denke, HBSS homes manager, empathized with the woman because he is very familiar with her frustrations.
“I had three engineers look at the building and they all said, ‘This is scrap, this is terrible – there is nothing good in saving this house,'” he explained. “So I did ask the city, ‘Can we take the house down?’ And they said no – it’s a 1925 historical duplex.”
Dan Riccio, Charleston’s director of livability and tourism, said there’s a reason the city has “strict BAR requirements,” saying, “It’s for historic preservation.”
Denke says this rule is costing the town because people are now just letting the homes rot so they go beyond the point of repair, called “demo by neglect,” so the city has no choice but to let them tear the house down.
As for the woman with the truck, she simply didn’t want to wait that long and took a gamble.