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Saugatuck city officials will take homeowners to court over lawn sculpture

Posted at 2:04 PM, Aug 19, 2014
and last updated 2014-08-19 14:04:30-04

SAUGATUCK, Mich. – The city of Saugatuck is taking a pair of homeowners to court over the amount of “excessive opinion signs” on their front lawn’s art sculpture.

As FOX 17 has reported, this is an ongoing dispute between the homeowners of 790 Lake St., John Porzondek and Bryan Serman, regarding their former second story awning they repurposed into a sculpture in their yard.

City officials said that ordinance 150.30 (f) does not allow residents to display more than three “excessive opinion signs” on the front lawn; the city counted more than 10 on the Lake Street sculpture. However, Porzondek and Serman stand firmly that their sculpture is a work of art, not opinion signs.

Earlier in July, the city issued a civil infraction to the homeowners asking them to remove the majority of their “excessive opinion signs.” Meanwhile, many residents support the installation of this sculpture. Porzondek and Serman told FOX 17 that nearly 100 percent of Lake Street residents signed a petition in order to maintain the sculpture as is.

In response the homeowners did not cooperate and refuse to remove the signs from their art. Now Saugatuck city officials demanded a court hearing, which is scheduled for Sept. 3 at 2:30 P.M. at the 57th District Court in Allegan.