FIVE THINGS ABOUT A PLAY HOUSE BATTLE

1 OH BUOY!

Not everyone is enamoured with John Alpeza’s pirate ship-shaped tree house. Last Friday, his family received a voice mail from the City of Toronto instructing them to remove it by the end of the week, or face a court order. Alpeza submitted drawings and a request for permits to the city last fall — well after he started building the structure in 2010 — but he says he didn’t hear anything back until last week’s message.

2 RAISING FLAGS

The stunning tree house has stirred up so much interest that Toronto Mayor John Tory tweeted that he’s looking into the issue. “Impressive play space & built with great intentions but safety & neighbourhood impacts have to be considered.”

3 AFT-ER THOUGHT

“I didn’t know you needed a permit for a tree house, OK, a boathouse,” Alpeza joked. He owns a general contracting business and has had the house checked out by an engineer from his company. Safety isn’t a factor, he said. He thinks a neighbourhood complaint might have turned the city’s attention to the build.

4 SECOND WIND

The Alpezas scuffled with neighbours on another occasion. In 2008, Ontario Municipal Board records show after the city approved an extension on their home, a neighbour successfully appealed the plan. The Alpezas were invited to reapply with a different plan, but said they scrapped the plans to avoid another costly battle.

5 HATCHING PLAN

That neighbour, Marita Bagdonas, 90, denies she launched the latest complaint but said she dislikes the fort for the same reason she opposed the family’s third-storey expansion: It takes “away the sunshine” and stifles her roses. It’s not the first time a pirate ship in a tree has come under fire. In 2008, a Vancouver family lost a court case to keep a very similar tree house.