Monday evening a Superior resident appealed the denial of her request to build a chain-link dog run in the yard behind her home.

She had paid the application fee and submitted the requested design plans which apparently comply with city regulations only to have the application denied because the property owner has not complied with a previous nuisance abatement order.

As requested, weeds have been cut and inoperative or unlicensed vehicles removed. Council members agreed the property was looking much better, However, the absentee landlord has not repaired a hole in the garage roof as previously requested.

The applicant said she was occupying the property in accordance with a rent-to-own plan and had paid the past five years of real estate taxes. But at the present time she does not have the money needed to complete the requested and extensive roof repairs.

She objected to the suggestion that the garage be removed saying, she was still using the garage to store things like her motorcycle, lawn mower and tools and that it was large enough, if the roof was repaired, to also house her car.

The mayor and members of the council appeared to sympathize with her predicament but said rules had to be followed and the fence permit would not be issued until the garage was either removed or repaired. The city clerk was told to begin the steps to force action on the garage.

As I listened to the council discussion, I thought of a story I read Sunday in the Lincoln Journal-Star newspaper.

Rules can sometimes have unexpected results.

That story reported on why what appears to be a hillbilly shack was constructed in a developing section of Lincoln.

It was obvious the builder has the finances to poke fun at Lincoln regulations and purposely constructed the shack on his 2.5 acre property. A property surrounded by trees but located by what is now a busy intersection in a rapidly developing neighborhood.

The owner originally lived on the property which featured a tree-line creek at 56th Street and Pine Lake. There he started a software development company in the home’s basement. The software company outgrew the basement and the family moved out. When city regulators learned the entire structure was being used by the business in violation of City of Lincoln rules, the company was ordered to move.

Even without the move order, I suspect the company would have moved because by now it employs more than 130 people.

The owner didn’t want to rent out the house and after being vacant for seven years it was looking rather dilapidated. He had it bulldozed but kept the heated two-car brick garage and a large metal storage building which he was using to store his automobile collection in.

The city regulators were not happy. According to Lincoln code, garages and storage buildings are not allowed on lots without houses.

And that’s when the hillbilly shack entered the picture. The 160-square foot shack designed by an architect is now the property’s “required residence.” He visits there regularly and it can serve as a guest lodge, if needed.

The exterior may look old and decrepit but inside it is up-to-date with a heating and air conditioning system, modern kitchen and bathroom facilities. The little house behind the house that passersby mistake for a privy, is also a storage building.

The expansive yard is being prepared and will be planted to wildflowers.

The situation in Lincon remindem me sometimes we can have too many regulations.

I recalled my days serving on a college judicial board. A housing unit required the guys who lived there to dress for the more formal Sunday dinner. Among the requirements was the need to wear a tie. I suspect the writers of that regulation would have accepted a bow tie or four-in-hand tie but what is a tie? Can a belt or rope looped around the wearer’s neck like a tie meet the requirement to wear a tie?

The judicial board became bogged down trying define acceptable ties.

Eventually, a new person was hired by the university who simplified the rules. The complicated, hard to enforce set of rules was replaced by two simple rules which I will summarize as “You will respect state property and the rights of your fellow students.” With the simplified rules, student conduct improved and the judicial board’s workload was reduced.