Update:
Yabba Dabba Don't: 'Flintstone House' owner in trouble for dinosaurs, other landscaping improvements
Trouble is afoot in Bedrock.
The town of Hillsborough in San Mateo County filed a complaint against the region's resident Fred Flintstone, calling the iconic "Flintstone House" at 45 Berryessa Way a public nuisance, and alleging landscape modifications to the
home were conducted without planning approvals or building permits.
Florence Fang purchased the ostentatious orange-and-purple home, a longstanding visual quirk along a banal stretch of Interstate 280, in 2017 for $2.8 million. Fang is a former publisher of the San Francisco Examiner and now helms the San Mateo-based Florence Fang Family Foundation.
According to rubberneckers along I-280, the property gained some new residents shortly after its purchase — a herd of dinosaur sculptures.
But that's not the only changes Fang made to the property, according to the complaint, filed Wednesday in the Superior Court of California. Starting around 2017, Fang began installing "extensive improvements" in the yard, including the sculptures and a sign reading "Yabba Dabba Doo," the complaint says.
She also reportedly built a retaining wall, steps, columns, gates, a parking strip and a deck to "accommodate her plan to use 45 Berryessa for parties and social gatherings." The town of Hillsborough claims some of these modifications created "life-safety hazards" that required immediate correction.
Fang allegedly instituted the improvements without proper planning approvals or building permits, with the exception of the wall installed at the front of the property. Fang could not be reached for comment.
The Hillsborough Building Department issued a series of Stop Work Notices to Fang between December 2017 and August 2018, but she continued to modify the property, the complaint said. Fang was subsequently cited for multiple violations of the Municipal Code.
An October hearing held before the Administrative Hearing Panel of Hillsborough issued a unanimous decision finding 45 Berryessa in violation of several sections of the municipal code and deemed the colorful property "a public nuisance." A $200 penalty was imposed.
The panel didn't mince words over Fang's sculptures; according to the panel, the dinosaurs are "a highly visible eyesore" that is "out of keeping with community standards."
The prehistoric creatures, the panel declared, would have to be removed by December 5.
As of March 13 the dinosaurs, by all accounts, remain standing atop their perches on the hilly lawn of the Flintstone House. Fang also failed to comply with the other requirements of the panel's decision, the complaint said, though she did pay the penalty fee.
Following a Jan. 31 letter warning to Fang that apparently went unheeded, the city filed the Wednesday injunction to enforce Fang's compliance with the panel's decision and order, including the removal of her so-called "landscaping improvements."
Constructed by architect William Nicholson in 1976, the Flintstone house built to experiment with new building materials and techniques. The home is a favorite of I-280 commuters and fans of the 1960s animated television series "The Flintstones." It was the fourth most-viewed property in the MLS network in 2017 upon hitting market in 2016, having remained under the same ownership for 20 years.
Trouble is afoot in Bedrock.
www.sfgate.com
