GEORGETOWN, Texas — A Texas family is being sued by a neighbor over a playscape they built on their property for their terminally ill 3-year-old son, KXAN reported.
“A playscape. Who has ever heard of being SUED over a playscape?” Kim Costa wrote in a Facebook post Saturday.
According to court documents in Williamson County, Costa and her husband, Jason Costa, are being sued by their next-door neighbors, Richard and Carole Gottleib, KVUE reported. The lawsuit alleges the Costas’ playscape, at 14 feet high, is too tall and violates the Estrella Subdivision Homeowners Association restrictions set out by the HOA’s Architecture Design Review Committee, the television station reported.
The couple is also seeking legal fees, KXAN reported.
The Gottleibs want the structure taken down or have it comply with HOA guidelines, claiming in the lawsuit that, “The Costas failed to submit proper plans and specifications to the ADRC for review prior to installation of the playscape, and the ADRC failed to review and approve Costas playscape in advance as required by ADRC guidelines."
A lawyer for the Gottleibs declined comment, KXAN and KVUE reported.
“My husband submitted documentation of how big it was, exactly where it was going to go on our lot, and the ADRC approved it," Kim Costa told KVUE.
The Estrella Homeowners Association confirmed to KXAN that the Costas did submit the playscape properly for review. The Costas said they tried to have a privacy fence approved for the 1-acre property, but the request was denied, Kim Costas wrote on Facebook.
Meanwhile, the Costas intend to keep the structure intact so 3-year-old Colton can play on it.
“We won’t be settling and taking it down like they would like,” Kim Costa told KXAN.
The boy is suffering from a rare disease called Mucopolysaccharidosis Type -- also known as Hurler Syndrome, KVUE reported. People suffering from this condition do not have enough -- or are missing -- an enzyme needed to break down long chains of sugar molecules.
“Hurler affects every organ system, every part of the body,” Kim Costa told KVUE. "So he does have hearing loss and he got his glasses, I think, when he was about 18 months old.”
The Costas said Hurler is an inherited disease and is ultimately fatal, KVUE reported.
Kim Costa called the lawsuit the culmination of “an ongoing debacle.”
“Our next-door neighbors have been very vocal that they do not like it and that we should have asked THEM about getting a playscape,” Kim Costa wrote on Facebook.
“They know Colton’s story. They know what our family has been through. They know he had a bone marrow transplant and has a terminal illness. Yet they still pursued a lawsuit.”