{"id":3503,"date":"2026-01-28T19:55:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T00:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/28\/stop-work-order-issued-to-children-building-igloo-without-permit\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T20:03:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T01:03:42","slug":"stop-work-order-issued-to-children-building-igloo-without-permit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/28\/stop-work-order-issued-to-children-building-igloo-without-permit\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Work Order Issued to Children Building Igloo Without Permit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

TAKOMA PARK, MD – A group of local children building an igloo were issued an immediate stop work order Tuesday after Montgomery County officials responded to anonymous online complaints that the igloo violated multiple development standards, none of which the children had read or could legally understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the county, the unpermitted structure – constructed by two children in their front yard – failed to comply with Takoma Park\u2019s Tree Protection Plan, Montgomery County\u2019s Accessory Igloo Unit (AIU) regulations, and many other building codes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe support creativity, winter play, and childhood joy,\u201d said a county spokesperson, standing in front of the half-finished igloo with a clipboard. \u201cBut once snow is stacked vertically, it becomes a structure. And once it becomes a structure, it becomes our business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takoma Park officials noted that the igloo was located within 50 feet of a tree, potentially threatening its critical root zone with snow compaction. The children were instructed to submit a revised site plan showing the igloo relocated to another area, preferably somewhere not in Takoma Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further complicating matters, the igloo’s height became a major issue. Under current regulations, any igloo over three feet tall must include a structural engineering stamp certifying that the snow load will not collapse during \u201canticipated warming events, emotional meltdowns, or sibling conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt no point did these children provide a stamped drawing from a licensed architect or engineer,\u201d said one county inspector. \u201cOne of them said, \u2018We’re just trying to have some fun.\u2019 I’m sorry, Billy, but there\u2019s nothing fun about structural deficiencies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stormwater management was also a significant concern. Officials warned that eventual igloo melt could result in uncontrolled runoff, sending water downslope in an unapproved manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere does the water go when this melts?\u201d asked an official. \u201cInto the watershed? Onto a sidewalk? Into the unplowed streets where it will create even more ice for us to add to the backlog?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When reached for comment, the children were unavailable, having abandoned the project and gone inside to play on their phones. County code enforcement officials, however, confirmed the matter had been escalated to the Department of Housing after it was discovered the igloo did not comply with recently enacted rent control laws, nor had the children cleared a 3 foot wide path through the snow leading to the entrance by Tuesday’s deadline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TAKOMA PARK, MD – A group of local children building an igloo were issued an immediate stop work order Tuesday after Montgomery County officials responded to anonymous online complaints that the igloo violated multiple development standards, none of which the children had read or could legally understand. According to the county, the unpermitted structure –…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[400,403,1754,114,389,690,1828,836,208,1509,2186,516,95,701,1734,1009,24,2192,970,1130,916,373,319,1826,370,140,489,1136,371,368,979,2149,386,1224,1921,1995,340,141,1998,1387,1789,49,1807,317,1848,189,640,2078,841,311,309,1351,320,668,638,130,706,1960,445,1733,339,116,94,1959,542,2017,93,136,878,2191,4,1397,718,716,221,164,2021],"class_list":["post-3503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-adu","tag-affordable-housing","tag-all-are-welcome-here","tag-amazon","tag-apartments","tag-arborist","tag-bethesda-today","tag-build-more-housing","tag-building-permit","tag-city-arborist","tag-clearing-snow","tag-cnn","tag-comedy","tag-community-vision-takoma","tag-cvt-takoma","tag-dc-humor","tag-dc-satire","tag-dhca","tag-dmv-news","tag-dmv-satire","tag-downtown-silver-spring","tag-ebay","tag-elrich","tag-email","tag-facebook","tag-fake-news","tag-funny","tag-gentrification","tag-gmail","tag-google","tag-google-news","tag-historic-area-work-permit","tag-housing","tag-housing-shortage","tag-hpc","tag-hud","tag-hulu","tag-humor","tag-ice","tag-instagram","tag-joke","tag-karen","tag-laugh","tag-marc-elrich","tag-marcmansion","tag-maryland","tag-maryland-satire","tag-mcdot","tag-mcpd","tag-mncppc","tag-moco","tag-moco-news","tag-moco-permits","tag-moco-planning-board","tag-moco-satire","tag-montgomery-county","tag-montgomery-county-council","tag-montgomery-county-permit","tag-montgomery-county-planning","tag-montgomery-county-satire","tag-netflix","tag-nimby","tag-parody","tag-permits","tag-reddit","tag-rent-stabilization","tag-satire","tag-silver-spring","tag-single-family-zoning","tag-snow-plow","tag-takoma","tag-takoma-humor","tag-takoma-park-satire","tag-takoma-satire","tag-takoma-tree-ordinance","tag-takomatorch","tag-tenants-rights","wpcat-17-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/takomatorch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image1281291202927899593429092.jpg?fit=2000%2C1500&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paPZSG-Uv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3503"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3504,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3503\/revisions\/3504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/takomatorch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}