A trio of controversial townhome buildings that have raised local hackles are absolutely illegal, Mayor Steve Bach said Monday.Local homebuilding company Todays Homes built the three overly tall buildings atop seven feet of unauthorized fill dirt, violating their city-approved development plan. The towering structures loom over neighbors and have become a source of ire for many locals on Whereabout Court and Many Springs Drive.Mil Younkers, president of Todays Homes, said last week that the company missed city requirement on the blueprints, and had accidentally built the higher homes.Bach, who was a homebuilder for 10 years, said Todays Homes has “clearly violated the law.”“It’s just absurd to say, ‘Well, we didn’t realize we couldn’t change the elevation’ — that’s homebuilding 101,” Bach said. “They had a city-approved blueprint, and they deviated substantially from that.”City Council President Scott Hente, however, said he could sympathize with Todays Homes.“I made kind of a similar mistake once,” Hente said sheepishly. But, he said, he had to shave only three or four feet off the top of a single-story home. Todays Homes is considering trimming the roofs of the townhomes by eight feet.Hente said the situation can “absolutely” be fixed.Fingerpointing over the case began immediately after neighbors complained. The city blaming Todays Homes and Todays Homes blamed the city and the Regional Building Department.Representatives from the City Planning Commission, the Regional Building Department and the Development Review Enterprise have planned a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the case. The Planning Commission has slated a public hearing at 8:30 a.m. on April 19 at 2880 International Circle to hear the builder’s pleas to amend the development plan to allow the taller structures.The Planning Commission could order the company to tear the homes down and rebuild them to meet the original specs.Younkers did not return a phone call Monday afternoon.The controversy could land in the City Council’s lap.“It’s probably going to come to us as a quasi-judicial matter,” said City Councilman Bernie Herpin. “We may have to look at changing zoning.”The builder suggested last week that the problem could be solved by taking eight feet off the tops of the buildings, planting 50 trees to make the area more aesthetic.Herpin, though, was skeptical.“I don’t know how they could. They’re two-level homes,” Herpin said.Rick O’Connor, a senior planner with the city placed the blame squarely on Todays Homes.“From our standpoint, we have a development plan that was very specific, and they did not follow the development plan,” O’Connor said.—Contact John Schroyer: 476-4825Twitter @JohnschroyerFacebook Gazette John Schroyer

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