A Vermont business owner erected a statue of a middle finger on his front lawn to spite town officials.

Ted Pelkey, from Westford, Vermont, says he’s been fighting an uphill battle with town authorities over a garage he wanted to build on his property.

“I’ve been put through the wringer by these people, and it’s just not right,” Pelkey, who built the structure in October, told Boston.com. “I was sitting at a bar and said to my wife, ‘Hey, I want to get a statue made of a middle finger, and I’m going to put it up on the lawn.'”

He spent more than $4,000 on the wooden sculpture, which weighs 700 pounds and stands on a 16-foot pole. Pelkey also set up floodlights so pedestrians and nearby drivers can see his work of art anytime.

His ire is directed at the town’s Development Review Board, which has been denying his attempts to get a building permit for an 8,000-square foot garage. He was hoping he could move his businesses, a recycling company and truck repair shop, from the nearby town of Swanton to his property.

“You can get out of bed in the morning, take your coffee, walk across the driveway, and go to work,” said Pelkey, who also noted moving his businesses to his home would eliminate his 25-mile commute. “What would you want to do?”

And authorities can’t force him to take down his sculpture. While Vermont has a ban on billboards, Pelkey’s finger technically isn’t advertising his business.

“The structure does not meet the statutory definition of ‘sign’ and thus can’t be regulated under the Vermont Billboard Law,” Jacqui DeMen, a spokesperson for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, told Boston.com.

Pelkey is appealing the town’s decision to deny his building permit, and there’s a possible court hearing in January. Until then, he has no plans to take down his sculpture.

“It was critical to me to make sure that my neighbors and the people who live in this town understood that I didn’t put that up there for them,” he said. “It is aimed directly at the people who sit in our town office.”