Matthew Franzen, a military veteran and arborist from Aspen, CO, has spent the past decade living in a treehouse he built himself.
However, that home could now be at risk, as Pitkin County has filed a lawsuit against him alleging land-use and building-code violations.
The county claims that the treehouse—which is 50 feet above ground—is subject to building codes and zoning regulations that govern privately owned properties.
The lawsuit, filed March 12, claims that Franzen built the treehouse without any required approvals or permits—and that the treehouse development poses a danger of real, immediate, and irreparable injury to the public and the county.
Franzen thought the location where he built his treehouse was on public land, according to The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel—and he constructed it to protest the housing affordability crisis in Aspen, where the median listing price is $1,295,000.
In 2019, Franzen learned the land was owned by Pyramid Ranch LLC, an entity owned by the Crown family, who are owners of Aspen Skiing Company—and he says he's communicated regularly with their attorneys ever since.
Pyramid Ranch has also been named as a defendant in the county’s lawsuit, as the property owner of record.
The Crown family had an estimated net worth of $14.7 billion as of 2024, Forbes reported.
Franzen has "reduced wildfire risk, protected mature trees, restored soil health, lived without utilities to minimize environmental impact, and cost taxpayers nothing" during his time in the treehouse, according to a GoFundMe raising money for his legal fees.
"Matthew is not a criminal archetype," wrote Anne-Sophie Lenoir, the creator of Franzen’s GoFundMe. "He is a veteran who served his country, an arborist who understands forests as living systems, and an environmental innovator who proved—through action—that another way of living is possible."
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County attorney Richard Neiley told The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel that many steps have been taken to find a solution for this issue—including the offer of a brand-new Sprinter camper van by the property owners, an offer to relocate the treehouse, and offers through the county and veterans services to find alternative housing.
“We really want to find a positive outcome,” Neiley said.
Franzen told the Aspen Daily News he wants to spread the word about what he's calling “TELE," which stands for "Treehouse Environmental Living Experiment."
“I don’t want to break the law,” Franzen said. “I'd like to be able to live within the law.”
Real estate agent Gareth Williams, of Aspen Snowmass Real Estate, weighed in on the situation in a Facebook post post, writing: "His living situation is well thought out and on balance more responsible than the average home. He isn’t littering or causing any harm. Yeah, he is living in nature and is probably wired a little differently. It seems like a poor use of taxpayer money going after him. Police time, legal time, court time all without a complaint from the land owner. Is that representing the interests of the public?"
Franzen was charged with third-degree criminal trespassing in May 2025 by the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office, and he's due in court on July 28.
Realtor.com® reached out to the attorneys for Franzen, Pyramid Ranch, and Pitkin County but did not hear back.
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Julie Taylor is a reporter for Realtor.com. She was most recently a writer and co-executive producer on “The Talk” where she won two Daytime Emmy Awards. A member of the Writers Guild of America, Julie has written for Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Redbook magazines and is the author of six books. Julie earned a B.A. in magazine journalism from the University of Central Oklahoma. After two decades in New York City and Los Angeles, she recently relocated to the Midwest.
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