Joshua Killeen and his wife Emily met and married in San Diego, but moved to Arizona to live out their entrepreneurial dreams. In March 2017, they bought 10 remote, undeveloped acres in far northern Yavapai County for $9,000. The property is at the end of a rutted private road and far from neighbors.
Using their savings and income (while avoiding debt), the couple gradually created Ananda Retreat. They built themselves a tiny home roughly 800 square feet in size. Unfortunately, they thought that these simple structures in the desert would not need permits. That’s when Joshua and Emily ran into Yavapai County Development Services’ buzzsaw.
While Joshua and Emily have no choice but to bring their buildings into code before they can use them to host paying guests, Development Services overstepped its authority and issued unconstitutional sanctions that violate Joshua and Emily’s fundamental speech and association rights. Joshua and Emily have teamed up with the Institute for Justice to protect their right to communicate about their future business and to welcome their friends onto their property for food, fellowship and exercise.
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