Tiny Houses, Yes; Nudists and Dorks, No

Everybody pretty much understands that there are designated areas for Texans to act crazy. Among these areas is Austin, home of the University of Texas, an  elite learning institution. Most universities attract a bohemian crowd, so an assortment of eggheads and hipsters is to be expected in the town whose unofficial motto is "keep Austin weird."

Another area where wild oats are expected to be sewn Is Bell County's own Killeen. Servicemen and women at Fort Hood are coming of age, so they are expected to have themselves a little fun.

Beyond that, weirdness and unconventional behavior is given critical looks by many. In the state which prides itself in being bigger than everybody, the idea that someone would want to live in a tiny house is almost anti-American. After all, our geography, our military bases, our high scho}ol football stadiums, and our mega churches are all big. Even women with their tradition of Ma Richards-style hair are bold and brassy. Thing is, being bold and brassy means a crazy idea ever now and then is tolerated. Yet like the Rio Grande there are definite stopping points,  boundaries which say don't cross the line.

In Spur Texas, the tiny house was supposed to be the spark powering a new economic engine to reverse too long of a period of population decline.  That's why the town leaders voted to allow houses 500 ft. and under to park them sells anywhere within the city limits with few restrictions, the first municipality in the nation to do so. Residents there understood that this was something new and different, and getting out of the rut they were in would take a bold move. And if there's anything Texans like, it's pioneering and adventurous. And so, it began:

What they didn't expect was the influx of people the rest of Texas would consider goobers. Yes I said it. Invasion of the dorks.

According to a profile in today's Wall Street Journal, Spur began attracting  people who want to live like hobbits from Lord of the RIngs, with homesteads half underground. The new residents thought because the town welcomed tiny houses they would welcome pretty much any kind of living situation. Including, amazingly, straw/thatch huts. Anything goes, right?

A recent change in building codes says otherwise.  The wild wild West phase of tiny housing had come to an end in Spur, Texas.

A quote from the article is priceless:

Charlie Morris, a retired federal agriculture inspector and Dickens County, Texas, commissioner who has lived in Spur for about 40 years [said,] “What we don’t want are anarchists or nudists.”

Read more about it in this Wall Street Journal article. Just do so above ground with your clothes on.