Florida City Reaches Agreement With "Starry Night" Homeowners

It looks like a Central Florida house will be able to keep its Van Gogh-inspired "Starry Night" paint scheme.  

Mount Dora city council members are expected to vote Tuesday on a settlement that has been worked out with the homeowners. 

Source: Orlando Sentinel

The city complained the Starry Night inspired pattern violated code, but a federal lawsuit claimed the city was violating the family's First Amendment rights.

Homeowners Lubomir Jastrzebski and his wife, Nancy Nemhauser, said the settlement calls for waiving more than $10,000 in fines, removing a lien on the home, and allowing them to complete the painting on two remaining walls of the house.

Earlier this year, a federal judge halted the $100-per-day fines the city instituted on the property, which had totaled more than $10,000.

It began last summer when the couple decided to paint a wall in front of their home in the likeness for “Starry Night” — one of van Gogh’s best-known paintings — as a way to “relax” their adult son, who has autism and loves the Dutch master’s art.

They taught the 25-year-old to say “take me to the van Gogh house” if he ever wandered off or got lost, Nemhauser said.


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