LARAMIE - Owners of a large house near Jackson should be forced to tear down an addition they installed in violation of Teton County's land use regulations, a lawyer for the county told the Wyoming Supreme Court on Thursday in a hearing at the University of Wyoming College of Law.

But a lawyer for homeowners Thomas and Carol-Anne Crow urged the court to let the couple's 13,000-square-foot home stand, noting that the Crows early this year paid a $363,000 fine for violating the county's rules.

In 1999, the Crows built a 3,000-square-foot addition to their existing 10,000-square-foot home in the Owl Creek Subdivision, near the Jackson Hole Airport, without a permit. Thomas Crow, a native of Australia, founded Cobra Golf Inc., which makes clubs and other equipment.

District Judge Norman Young this February ruled that the Crows knew their addition violated the county's regulations but went ahead with it nonetheless. Young fined the Crows $363,000 but denied the county's request to make the couple tear down the addition.

Jim Radda, Teton County deputy attorney, told the court Thursday that the Crows should be forced to tear down the addition to preserve the integrity of the county's land-use rules. Otherwise, he said, rich people would be able to ignore the rules and build extravagant houses with the expectation that they would get off with nothing but fines.

Upholding the county's regulations is necessary to preserve the Western and rural feel of Teton County, Radda said, and to "try to stop the upward spiral of land costs."

Teton County enacted regulations in 1994, restricting the size of houses to 10,000 square feet, of which no more than 8,000 square feet can be heated. The regulations were adopted as the number of trophy homes in the area exploded and housing became too expensive for middle-class workers.

The Crows' attorney, Katherine Mead, characterized her clients' decision to build the addition without a permit as "misjudgment and error."

Mead said the fine already imposed against the Crows was large enough to deter anyone else from ignoring the county regulations. She also said the law gave Judge Young the discretion to decide whether the Crows had to tear down the addition, but that nothing in the law requires that they do so.

Justice Michael Golden said he saw nothing in Young's written ruling on the case that explained why he decided that a fine would suffice rather than forcing the Crows to tear down the addition.

"It's like he just flipped a coin," Golden said.

Mead said Thomas Crow attended Thursday's hearing, but said he didn't want to comment on the case.

The Jackson Hole News & Guide reported in 2003 that Thomas Crow had given a statement in the lawsuit that he needed to expand his house to address safety concerns and heating efficiency.

Crow also said he needed to expand the house to accommodate visits from his children and grandchildren. He said he wanted to teach them the importance of family and the beauty of nature, "especially as found in Teton County."

The Supreme Court did not immediately rule on the case.