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have lived in my house for almost 30 years, and last year my neighbor moved in and began changing everything. They started by taking out all the bushes between our houses, and now they're building a huge - and I mean behemoth - two-story addition. It looks too high, even though the inspector says it is not, and too close to my property line. I'm so angry, I want to sue the town and my neighbor. Now they've put up a huge wall for a fence, so I've lost my view of the only trees and flowers. I feel like I'm living in Brooklyn again.
ഊA. Welcome to the neighborhood! It's funny that most people looking for a house really know so little about where they're moving. I regularly hear from people who want to know what they can do about the car lights from the intersection in front of their house after they move to the one home facing a T intersection. And how about the homeowners who never consider the sound of trains before they move near train tracks? And my all-time favorite, people who live behind a shopping center and can't take the noise or the activity on the other side of their fence.
The zoning code of your community allows homes with angled roofs to have an "average" height of 30 feet. Average means that half the roof is below 30 feet, and half the is above 30 feet. When people ask my colleagues and I to design the highest building they can have, since they have no basement or need the extra storage space, we have the option of applying the rules or losing the project. I would rather try to create a beautiful design than lose the opportunity and income. The density of our neighborhoods is rapidly changing due to the economy, but if you really examine the rules and regulations of your community, they allow behemoths to be built. You moved from Brooklyn to escape the overgrowth, and sadly, even if your neighbors have followed the codes, you may have to make that choice again. I wish there was a compromise, or a more sensitive answer, but the rules were not necessarily crafted to meet your needs, and neither was the house next door. So meet your neighbors and spend a lot of time in their home, so you can still enjoy the view. Readers are encouraged to send 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530
