APPLETON, Maine — The house that has been at the center of a six-year legal fight will be moved, the town code officer said Tuesday.
Appleton Code Enforcement Officer C. Toupie Rooney said she approved a building permit for Jacob Boyington so he can move the house from its longtime location to land Boyington owns on Appleton Ridge.
Boyington has yet to pick up and pay for the permit, she said, but when he does, the permit will be good for a year. The code officer said she has not been given an estimated time for when the house will be moved.
Boyington could not be reached for comment. An email was sent Tuesday morning to his attorney Christopher MacLean of Camden but was not immediately returned.
The moving of the house follows the June 9 rejection by voters at town referendum of a proposed consent agreement that would have allowed the house to remain if Boyington paid a $2,500 penalty. Voters rejected that referendum, 284-80.
The two-story, two-bedroom rental house has been in violation of the town’s setback ordinance since it was built. The home has a 24-by-32-foot footprint and is located 15 feet from the road right of way. The town ordinance requires buildings to be 25 feet from the right of way.
The saga of the house began in 2008, when the town auctioned off a 0.18-acre lot in the village center for $4,100 to builder Boyington, who owns Appleton Ridge Construction LLC. The next year, he obtained a building permit from the town to construct a two-bedroom rental house — though abutting neighbors challenged his right to do so from the beginning. They argued that under local ordinances the lot was too small and was too near the road.
He tore down a dilapidated building that was on the lot.
The issue wound its way through the courts until Justice Jeffrey Hjelm ordered the town in February 2011 to rescind the building permit. He later ruled in May 2014 that the town’s zoning board of appeals also erred in granting a zoning variance.
The town filed a land use complaint against Boyington at the end of February. Rooney said enforcement action remains active. A judge will hear the case on July 29.
The cost to move the house is at least $20,000 and possibly $30,000, MacLean said earlier this month. The house will be moved about 2 miles to its new location, Rooney said.
The town has spent more than $33,000 in legal fees on the case.