West Chicago Mayor Daniel Bovey and his wife Jody say they will not sign a proposed settlement over their backyard geodesic dome greenhouse if it forces them to stay quiet about the deal, even though the agreement would hand them back $10,000 of the $20,000 fine they paid and reissue the building permit at the center of a three-year legal fight. The couple says several unnamed aldermen are insisting on a nondisparagement clause barring both sides from assigning blame or making disparaging remarks about each other, according to their own social media post.
The standoff is unusual because Bovey is no longer just a defendant in this case — he is the sitting mayor of the city trying to enforce the fine against him. As reported by the Chicago Tribune, the West Chicago City Council has said it will not approve the settlement without the nondisparagement restriction, while the Boveys say they refuse to sign it. Under the proposed terms, the city would also renew the couple's building permit without requiring new documentation and give them nine months from the permit's issuance to bring the structure up to city standards.
A Permit Dispute That Made Its Defendant Mayor
The saga began years before Bovey held any office. The Boveys received a permit in 2021 to build what was described as a $7,000 noncommercial greenhouse, according to the Tribune's reporting, but the finished structure grew into something far larger: a 26-foot-diameter, 15-foot-tall geodesic dome with two interior levels, an internal balcony, and a 200-square-foot growing area for fruits, vegetables, and citrus trees, as detailed by the Daily Herald. The city issued a new permit in July 2022, but it lapsed in July 2023, and the Boveys' attempt to renew it that summer was unsuccessful.
That September, the city filed an administrative adjudication case alleging the Boveys were building without a valid permit. In November 2023, a city-appointed administrative law judge ruled against them, levying two separate $10,000 fines — one for building without an updated permit and one for deviating substantially from the submitted plans, city officials have said — for a total of $20,000, along with a demolition order. The same judge had offered to reduce the fine if both sides could agree on a new permit, per the Daily Herald's account of the case.
From Backyard Fight to City Hall
The dispute did not stay contained to zoning hearings. It spawned a grassroots movement called Save the Greenhouse, complete with lawn signs, a GoFundMe campaign, and residents showing up in green at city council meetings starting in late 2023, according to the Daily Herald. Regional television coverage from ABC7 Chicago that November pushed city officials to publish a dedicated informational page on the greenhouse dispute, though officials declined interviews at the time due to pending litigation.
That public frustration eventually reshaped city politics. In April 2025, Daniel Bovey defeated 13-year incumbent Mayor Ruben Pineda with 51.6 percent of the vote in a three-way race, according to Ballotpedia. Bovey had campaigned on reform of the city's administrative adjudication system, which processed 487 code violation cases between January 2023 and December 2024 under a judge appointed by the city administrator, per his campaign website. Pineda had served as mayor since 2012 after 14 years as an alderman.
The Legal Track Runs Alongside the Political One
Even as Bovey moved into the mayor's office, the underlying legal case continued on its own track. The Boveys asked DuPage County Circuit Judge Bryan Chapman to overturn the administrative ruling in January 2024, but Chapman ruled against them. The city separately filed its own 2025 lawsuit asking the court to enforce the original $20,000 judgment.
The couple, representing themselves without an attorney, appealed to the Illinois 3rd District Appellate Court, which affirmed Chapman's decision in a summary order on August 7. The appellate court found the Boveys had forfeited several claims by not raising them during the original administrative hearing and refused to consider other arguments because they lacked supporting legal citations, the Tribune reported.
Where the Case Stands Now
That appellate loss appears to have pushed both sides toward settlement talks. On August 23, the city attorney told DuPage County Circuit Judge Jennifer Barron that the Boveys had submitted changes to the proposed agreement, and also suggested Barron could simply close the cases without any settlement given the appellate ruling now in the city's favor. Barron continued both cases to September 30.
The Boveys maintain they have nothing to hide and believe the city still ultimately wants the greenhouse demolished, according to their public statements. If both sides do reach an agreement, the city has said it will issue a joint statement announcing the settlement of the two legal cases. Notably, Illinois' Freedom of Information Act explicitly classifies settlement agreements entered into by public bodies as public records subject to inspection and copying under 5 ILCS 140/2.20, a provision enacted through Public Act 99-478 — a detail that raises questions about how enforceable any confidentiality term could ultimately be, regardless of what the council demands before signing off.
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