County Oks Antique Store In Barn

In/Around Trentwood

A woman can continue to operate an antique store in her barn despite a neighbor’s complaints.

Spokane County officials granted Penny Simonson a conditional use permit for a home industry Tuesday.

That means that she can continue to operate No Place Like Home at 13409 E. Wellesley. Without the permit, the store in the urban residential area violates county zoning law.

Simonson began selling antiques and crafts in a barn near her house last October.

Neighbor Tom Tupper complained to county officials that the business decreases their property values and invades their privacy.

Tupper has until May 26 to appeal the county’s decision. Efforts to reach him Tuesday were unsuccessful.

The county approved the cottage industry, providing Simonson meets certain requirements.

The store sign is too large and must be adjusted to less than four square feet, according to the findings of zoning adjustor Tom Mosher.

Simsonson must also frost windows that are visible from Tupper’s property.

Mosher wrote that the business “…does not generally change the residential character of the property….”

The barn “looks not unlike other structures throughout the area, if not more picturesque than the newer style metal-sided buildings,” Mosher wrote.

The permit expires on June 1, 1997.