Example of a Pottery Barn photo from Severson home. Photo courtesy of Planning Commission staff report.

It started with one anonymous complaint six years ago received by Lafayette's Code Enforcement Officer about using a residence as a business, due to the number of cars in the vicinity on the normally quiet Old Jonas Hill Road.
Like two other residences in the area, a major home furnishing retailer wanted to use the interior of the home to stage photo shoots featuring their products. The city okayed their permits, but limited the hours and number of days per year that usage was allowed. Similarly with no public comment, the Severson family's request for a land use permit with a limit of a maximum of 40 shoots per calendar year to conduct commercial photo shoots in their home was approved.
Todd and Pam Severson moved into the home in 2004 with their two kids. Todd Severson explained, "Typically 98 percent of the shoots are indoors," and called the neighborhood tight knit; nearby homeowners signed a petition that they have no issues with the photo shoots. Neighbors and everyone else on Pottery Barn's distribution list can look closely at the images, which could have been shot in town. C. Tyson

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