<\/p>\n
Matthew Franzen is living in a treehouse he built himself. Picture: Supplied<\/p>\n
Matthew Franzen, a military veteran and arborist, has spent the past decade living in a treehouse he built himself.<\/p>\n
However, that home could now be at risk, as Pitkin County has filed a lawsuit against him alleging land-use and building-code violations.<\/p>\n
Pitkin County in the US claims that the treehouse \u2014 which is 50 feet above ground in Aspen \u2014 is subject to building codes and zoning regulations that govern privately owned properties.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit, filed March 12, claims that Franzen built the treehouse without any required approvals or permits \u2014 and that the treehouse development poses a danger of real, immediate, and irreparable injury to the public and the county.<\/p>\n
Franzen thought the location where he built his treehouse was on public land, according to The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel \u2014 and he constructed it to protest the housing affordability crisis in Aspen, where the median listing price is $1,295,000 (AUD $1.84 million).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The view from the treehouse home of Matthew Franzen. Picture: Supplied<\/p>\n
In 2019, Franzen learned the land was owned by Pyramid Ranch LLC, an entity owned by the Crown family, who are owners of Aspen Skiing Company \u2014 and he says he\u2019s communicated regularly with their attorneys ever since. <\/p>\n
Pyramid Ranch has also been named as a defendant in the county\u2019s lawsuit, as the property owner of record. <\/p>\n
The Crown family had an estimated net worth of $14.7 billion (AUD $20.92 billion) as of 2024, Forbes reported.<\/p>\n
Franzen has \u201creduced wildfire risk, protected mature trees, restored soil health, lived without utilities to minimise environmental impact, and cost taxpayers nothing\u201d during his time in the treehouse, according to a GoFundMe raising money for his legal fees.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatthew is not a criminal archetype,\u201d wrote Anne-Sophie Lenoir, the creator of Franzen\u2019s GoFundMe.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a veteran who served his country, an arborist who understands forests as living systems, and an environmental innovator who proved \u2014 through action \u2014 that another way of living is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
County lawyer Richard Neiley told The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel that many steps have been taken to find a solution for this issue \u2014 including the offer of a brand-new Sprinter camper van by the property owners, an offer to relocate the treehouse, and offers through the county and veterans services to find alternative housing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pitkin County has filed a lawsuit against Matthew Franzen, alleging land-use and building-code violations. Picture: Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really want to find a positive outcome,\u201d Neiley said.<\/p>\n
Franzen told the Aspen Daily News he wants to spread the word about what he\u2019s calling \u201cTELE,\u201d which stands for \u201cTreehouse Environmental Living Experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to break the law,\u201d Franzen said. \u201cI\u2019d like to be able to live within the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Real estate agent Gareth Williams, of Aspen Snowmass Real Estate, weighed in on the situation in a Facebook post, writing: \u201cHis living situation is well thought out and on balance more responsible than the average home. He isn\u2019t littering or causing any harm. Yeah, he is living in nature and is probably wired a little differently. It seems like a poor use of taxpayer money going after him. Police time, legal time, court time all without a complaint from the land owner. Is that representing the interests of the public?\u201d<\/p>\n
Franzen was charged with third-degree criminal trespassing in May 2025 by the Pitkin County Sheriff\u2019s Office, and he\u2019s due in court on July 28.<\/p>\n
Realtor.com\u00ae reached out to the attorneys for Franzen, Pyramid Ranch, and Pitkin County but did not hear back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Franzen is living in a treehouse he built himself. Picture: Supplied Matthew Franzen, a military veteran and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-727483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}