West Chicago Mayor Daniel Bovey and his wife Jody say they will not sign a proposed settlement over their backyard geodesic dome greenhouse if it forces them to stay quiet about the deal, even though the agreement would hand them back $10,000 of the $20,000 fine they paid and reissue the building permit at the center of a three-year legal fight. The couple says several unnamed aldermen are insisting on a nondisparagement clause barring both sides from assigning blame or making disparaging remarks about each other, according to their own social media post.
The standoff is unusual because Bovey is no longer just a defendant in this case — he is the sitting mayor of the city trying to enforce the fine against him. As reported by the Chicago Tribune, the West Chicago City Council has said it will not approve the settlement without the nondisparagement restriction, while the Boveys say they refuse to sign it. Under the proposed terms, the city would also renew the couple’s building permit without requiring new documentation and give them nine months from the permit’s issuance to bring the structure up to city standards.
A Permit Dispute That Made Its Defendant Mayor
The saga began years before Bovey held any office. The Boveys received a permit in 2021 to build what was described as a $7,000 noncommercial greenhouse, according to the Tribune’s reporting, but the finished structure grew into something far larger: a 26-foot-diameter, 15-foot-tall geodesic dome with two interior levels, an internal balcony, and a 200-square-foot growing area for fruits, vegetables, and citrus trees, as detailed by the Daily Herald. The city issued a new permit in July 2022, but it lapsed in July 2023, and the Boveys’ attempt to renew it that summer was unsuccessful.
That September, the city filed an administrative adjudication case alleging the Boveys were building without a valid permit. In November 2023, a city-appointed administrative law judge ruled against them, levying two separate $10,000 fines — one for building without an updated permit and one for deviating substantially from the submitted plans, city officials have said — for a total of $20,000, along with a demolition order. The same judge had offered to reduce the fine if both sides could agree on a new permit, per the Daily Herald’s account of the case.
From Backyard Fight to City Hall
The dispute did not stay contained to zoning hearings. It spawned a grassroots movement called Save the Greenhouse, complete with lawn signs, a GoFundMe campaign, and residents showing up in green at city council meetings starting in late 2023, according to the Daily Herald. Regional television coverage from ABC7 Chicago that November pushed city officials to publish a dedicated informational page on the greenhouse dispute, though officials declined interviews at the time due to pending litigation…