A couple in San Marcos, Texas, wants to remove a reference to a Ku Klux Klan supporter from the front of their home, but the local historic preservation agency has said nothing.
The reference in question is a large metal “Z” bolted to a wrought-iron balcony on the facade of Kristy Kay Money and Rolf Jacob Sraubhaar’s home in San Marcos’ historic Burleson neighborhood.
That “Z” is the initial of the home’s owner and builder, Frank Zimmerman, a prominent local businessman and owner of the historic downtown theater who was mayor of San Marcos from 1949 to 1951.
Zimmerman also has ties to the Ku Klux Klan. His theater hosted Ku Klux Klan days and screenings Birth of a nation.
Given this legacy, Money and Sraubhaar decided they wanted to remove the balcony and its large “Z” from the front of their home.
But because their home is in a historic neighborhood, though not a historic structure itself, the couple needed approval from the San Marcos Historic Preservation Commission to change its facade. In May 2023 the commission voted unanimously to deny their request to remove the balcony from the front of the house.
In response, Money and Sraubhaar sued San Marcos in federal court, alleging that the city’s refusal to allow them to remove the balcony and initial is an uncompensated physical taking in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and a unconstitutional exercise of police powers under the Texas Constitution. .
“It’s an occupation of property for a public benefit. It’s for an alleged public purpose, in this case, the people on the design review board want to look at it. So, we think it’s a taking,” says Chance Weldon, an attorney. with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which represents the couple.
In response, San Marcos filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing primarily that Money and Sraubhaar should first appeal to the city’s Board of Zoning Adjustment before taking the case to court.
The U.S. District Court for the Austin Division of the Western District of Texas is currently hearing the case.
“We think it’s completely un-American that if you want to change something about the aesthetics of your property, you have to get approval from a board of unelected bureaucrats based on what they think is right,” Weldon says Reason.