> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # City, neighbor take the fun out of playhouse - URL: https://www.smdp.com/city-neighbor-take-the-fun-out-of-playhouse/ - Published: 2002-02-19T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:03:01.000Z - Author: Carolyn Sackariason - Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Contradictory approvals at heart of lawsuit* (Editor’s note: This is the second story in a series examining a lawsuit filed by a Santa Monica family over their son’s playhouse. The first installment ran Monday.) When City Hall changes its mind and a building approval becomes a denial, one couple decided it was time to call their lawyer. David and Beth Levy made the call after they built a playhouse for their 6-year-old son, Jacob. Now it’s the center of the latest political — and legal — storm in town. The Levys thought they were being considerate neighbors when they were planning the playhouse. They brought the plans to their backyard neighbor, Tunde Garai, who wasn’t happy with them. So, the Levys cut its size in half, eliminated windows facing her home, lowered the ceiling height and let Garai pick the color. After the changes, Garai approved. So did the city’s building department. “We did everything they told us to do,” said David Levy, adding he spent an extra $4,000 appeasing the city and Garai. Everything was fine until Garai changed her mind and so did the city. As the playhouse was being built, Garai didn’t like what she saw. She complained, not to the Levys, but to then Mayor Ken Genser. Genser said he passed the complaint on to Planning Director Suzanne Frick. Within a month, Frick reversed building officials’ stance that the playhouse was one story. According to her and other senior planning officials, the playhouse had added a second floor — the open area underneath it. Zoning officer Mike Gruett, who repeatedly told the Levys the playhouse conformed to all city laws, was forced to tell the Levys their son’s elevated hideaway was now illegal — a decision he disagreed with so much that he quit. A notice of violation was issued several months later. After spending $11,000, the Levys had to choose between tearing down the playhouse, facing criminal charges, or suing City Hall. The Levys, who live in a Santa Monica east side neighborhood, sued the city in September of 2000, asking for a public forum to argue their case against the city’s reversal. The current law provides no appeals process. The suit also seeks to make the playhouse legal, with no restrictions. The city had already offered to allow the playhouse as a “non-conforming use,” under which the city might change its mind again if someone complained. > “the structure is two stories in height (one story on tall posts)...” Genser e-mailed Frick twice raising the question of whether a one-story building, elevated on posts, qualifies as a two story structure. Such a distinction is critical in the zoning code, and it apparently triggered the city to change its mind. At the center of the suit is Levys’ claim that when Genser sent his e-mails, he was pressuring city staff to change the original approval. “When a council person even makes a suggestion, you jump,” said the Levys’ attorney, Chris Harding. “Suggestions are read as requests and that is what happened to the Levys. We never alleged (Ken Genser) ordered it, he advocated it.” But city officials have a different interpretation of the e-mails’ content. “The e-mails speak for themselves,” said deputy city attorney Cara Silver. “He was forwarding a citizen complaint.” Genser’s first e-mail, March 15, 2000, a day before the city’s building officer deemed the playhouse legal, states “He came up with the two-story theory,” Harding said. Genser argues he was just passing on the complaint and never advocated anything. He did ask several questions of Frick regarding whether the building was being constructed without permits. After Garai got no response from city officials on her complaints, she went to Genser again. He e-mailed Frick on April 2, 2000, in which he wrote, “Finally, I wonder if the space under the first floor should be considered a story (I haven’t found a citation to support this — yet).” Within two weeks, Levy was notified that everything he had been told by numerous city officials for the past four months was wrong. After Garai’s complaint, the city decided the space below the elevated floor is a basement, even though it isn’t enclosed and lacks a floor. “The city has not backed away from its position and they can’t get out,” Levy said. “Technically, an elevated dog house would be two stories and would be a violation. “It’s just preposterous, I mean it’s a playhouse,” he added. “I always had heard it was the People’s Republic of Santa Monica but I thought that usually meant it was for the common person.” Levy’s key goal is that a process be set up so any person who is served a notice of violation gets a public hearing. “Nobody asked me formally what my side of the story was,” he said. “I would like there to be a formal process and reduce the likelihood of this happening to anyone else.” Despite that the two sides have been attempting to settle the suit for months, the case continues to heat up. A judge will hear the newest arguments from both sides Feb. 25. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/021902-03_01.jpg) Levy’s controversial playhouse is at the heart of a lawsuit filed against the city by his father. (Photo: File Photo Six-year-old Jacob) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 19, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/021902.pdf?ref=smdp.com)