Massive home addition causes confusion in Fairfax County neighborhood

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else get the impression the owner of the monstrosity is here posting constantly?

Because no one else could possibly be interested in protecting personal property rights?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It looks like Courtney has her backyard shed in the setback. In two, actually. Maybe she thought they should cancel each other out. Will one of you tell her?

So we’re back to the verging-on-creepy posts about the neighbor again, I see.

She went on TV and had a helicopter fly over her house.

And?

Does asking questions about something happening in one’s neighborhood give others the right to make creepy comments about the person?

You gotta wonder if comments like this would be made if a man had asked these questions.

How is it creepy? Should have I instead gone on Facebook and posted the address? Then went to the media to have them take pictures of her house? Because that's somehow less creepy?

Yeah, it does make you wonder how this would have gone down if Mike was a woman and Courtney was a man.

Every setback is sacred,
Every setback is great!
If you’re six inches over,
You’ve committed a grave mistake!

I suggest you open a complaint with the zoning authority in Fairfax County. It's online. The shed might even be unpermitted.

This happened with a neighbor on my street. Another neighbor reported them. The county sent out notices to our whole block that there would be a hearing where we could state our concerns about the shed. The neighbor who reported it said they were against it, but all the other neighbors who came to the hearing were fine with it. The board gave them a variance for the shed.

Apparently this is fairly common and as long as most of the neighbors are okay with it, the allow it.

.

What the neighbors say doesn't have that much of an impact. The neighbors can speak to an adverse impact, but there has to be an adverse impact. And for setback encroachments, impacts will be minimal.

We were told that the neighbors views were taken into consideration. The people who complained were the only ones who spoke against it at the hearing, the others who made statements made the points that it was behind the house and can’t be seen from the street, so no adverse impact on anyone. It was also a very nice, attractive shed that had the same architecture as the houses in the neighborhood.

They are, to the extent they speak to the standards in ordinance. They would need to demonstrate an adverse impact from the requested modification- the setback reduction. Most of the posters here are focused on the size or height, which isn't relevant.

The standards for a shed are slightly different, but it’s interesting that the fact that this shed couldn’t be seen from the street and that it blended with the look of the houses in the neighborhood were taken into account. Adverse impact can be related to size and height in terms of whether a building has an effect on others.

To be clear, it isn't the impact of the building-it is the impact of the setback reduction.

The impact of the setback reduction varies with the size and height of the building. A taller or longer building would have more area intruding in to setback than a lower or smaller building.

In addition, an intrusion at the back of a building will have less impact than one that can be seen from the street.

That's true, but it is only the impact of the difference between the 6 inches that matters. A bigger/taller building has more of an impact in general, but the difference in impact between those 6 inches is negligible.

Well, the reasonable person can differ here. Many people would find that a six inch intrusion has more impact when it is over a longer and/or taller wall area.

You'd be wrong.

From the neighbor's front door, their back porch, the visual difference in height would be 1% (difference in visual width is less- about 0.85%).

Even going right up to their own setback, the difference in height is only 1.6%.

This is imperceptible. There is no impact.

It’s not just the difference to the immediate neighbors, it’s also the difference to how it can be seen from the street and from behind.

I'm not sure what you mean. There isn't going to be a difference from that perspective. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

It can be seen as closer to the property line, thus giving a sense of being crowded in. It goes to the overall character of the neighborhood.

Also, we’re considering this six inches before gutters, downspouts, siding, and shutters have been added. The intrusion will be extended by several inches by these and will have more of a visual effect overall.

By the way, have you ever put up siding? It isn't several inches thick.

The gutters might be, if they're needed at all. There are alternatives if it were to really come down to that. But due to the vertical separation, you're not going to notice the distance between the neighboring house and gutters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else get the impression the owner of the monstrosity is here posting constantly?

Because no one else could possibly be interested in protecting personal property rights?

Fortunately, not every one takes the position that "it's all about me!" when it comes to relations with neighbors and others. "Personal property rights" here is merely window dressing for antisocial inconsiderate behavior, nothing more.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It looks like Courtney has her backyard shed in the setback. In two, actually. Maybe she thought they should cancel each other out. Will one of you tell her?

So we’re back to the verging-on-creepy posts about the neighbor again, I see.

She went on TV and had a helicopter fly over her house.

And?

Does asking questions about something happening in one’s neighborhood give others the right to make creepy comments about the person?

You gotta wonder if comments like this would be made if a man had asked these questions.

How is it creepy? Should have I instead gone on Facebook and posted the address? Then went to the media to have them take pictures of her house? Because that's somehow less creepy?

Yeah, it does make you wonder how this would have gone down if Mike was a woman and Courtney was a man.

Every setback is sacred,
Every setback is great!
If you’re six inches over,
You’ve committed a grave mistake!

I suggest you open a complaint with the zoning authority in Fairfax County. It's online. The shed might even be unpermitted.

This happened with a neighbor on my street. Another neighbor reported them. The county sent out notices to our whole block that there would be a hearing where we could state our concerns about the shed. The neighbor who reported it said they were against it, but all the other neighbors who came to the hearing were fine with it. The board gave them a variance for the shed.

Apparently this is fairly common and as long as most of the neighbors are okay with it, the allow it.

.

What the neighbors say doesn't have that much of an impact. The neighbors can speak to an adverse impact, but there has to be an adverse impact. And for setback encroachments, impacts will be minimal.

We were told that the neighbors views were taken into consideration. The people who complained were the only ones who spoke against it at the hearing, the others who made statements made the points that it was behind the house and can’t be seen from the street, so no adverse impact on anyone. It was also a very nice, attractive shed that had the same architecture as the houses in the neighborhood.

They are, to the extent they speak to the standards in ordinance. They would need to demonstrate an adverse impact from the requested modification- the setback reduction. Most of the posters here are focused on the size or height, which isn't relevant.

The standards for a shed are slightly different, but it’s interesting that the fact that this shed couldn’t be seen from the street and that it blended with the look of the houses in the neighborhood were taken into account. Adverse impact can be related to size and height in terms of whether a building has an effect on others.

To be clear, it isn't the impact of the building-it is the impact of the setback reduction.

The impact of the setback reduction varies with the size and height of the building. A taller or longer building would have more area intruding in to setback than a lower or smaller building.

In addition, an intrusion at the back of a building will have less impact than one that can be seen from the street.

That's true, but it is only the impact of the difference between the 6 inches that matters. A bigger/taller building has more of an impact in general, but the difference in impact between those 6 inches is negligible.

Well, the reasonable person can differ here. Many people would find that a six inch intrusion has more impact when it is over a longer and/or taller wall area.

You'd be wrong.

From the neighbor's front door, their back porch, the visual difference in height would be 1% (difference in visual width is less- about 0.85%).

Even going right up to their own setback, the difference in height is only 1.6%.

This is imperceptible. There is no impact.

The reasonable person can differ as to whether the reasonable person can differ. Many people would perceive a bigger impact when an intrusion is on a taller or longer building than when it it occurs on a lower or shorter building.

That simply isn't true. This is easy to quantify. Viewed from, say, 15.5 feet away instead of 16 feet, the object you see only looks 1.6% taller. You're kidding yourself if you think you'd notice that.

We’re using a reasonable person standard here. The reasonable person is not going to stand in the street and compute the math to see if the impact of being six inches closer to the property line is more obvious on a taller or longer building than on a smaller building. It is obvious to the eye.

The impact to the surrounding community is that it makes the houses appear to be crowded closer to one another. It goes to the consideration by the board of whether the structure is harmonious with the surrounding community.

The math shows it wouldn't be "obvious to the eye." The difference is negligible. They can probably bring some renderings to the hearing to show that visually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else get the impression the owner of the monstrosity is here posting constantly?

Because no one else could possibly be interested in protecting personal property rights?

Fortunately, not every one takes the position that "it's all about me!" when it comes to relations with neighbors and others. "Personal property rights" here is merely window dressing for antisocial inconsiderate behavior, nothing more.

I would say trying to destroy a neighbor's home for their family is a better example of "antisocial inconsiderate behavior."

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It looks like Courtney has her backyard shed in the setback. In two, actually. Maybe she thought they should cancel each other out. Will one of you tell her?

So we’re back to the verging-on-creepy posts about the neighbor again, I see.

She went on TV and had a helicopter fly over her house.

And?

Does asking questions about something happening in one’s neighborhood give others the right to make creepy comments about the person?

You gotta wonder if comments like this would be made if a man had asked these questions.

How is it creepy? Should have I instead gone on Facebook and posted the address? Then went to the media to have them take pictures of her house? Because that's somehow less creepy?

Yeah, it does make you wonder how this would have gone down if Mike was a woman and Courtney was a man.

Every setback is sacred,
Every setback is great!
If you’re six inches over,
You’ve committed a grave mistake!

I suggest you open a complaint with the zoning authority in Fairfax County. It's online. The shed might even be unpermitted.

This happened with a neighbor on my street. Another neighbor reported them. The county sent out notices to our whole block that there would be a hearing where we could state our concerns about the shed. The neighbor who reported it said they were against it, but all the other neighbors who came to the hearing were fine with it. The board gave them a variance for the shed.

Apparently this is fairly common and as long as most of the neighbors are okay with it, the allow it.

.

What the neighbors say doesn't have that much of an impact. The neighbors can speak to an adverse impact, but there has to be an adverse impact. And for setback encroachments, impacts will be minimal.

We were told that the neighbors views were taken into consideration. The people who complained were the only ones who spoke against it at the hearing, the others who made statements made the points that it was behind the house and can’t be seen from the street, so no adverse impact on anyone. It was also a very nice, attractive shed that had the same architecture as the houses in the neighborhood.

They are, to the extent they speak to the standards in ordinance. They would need to demonstrate an adverse impact from the requested modification- the setback reduction. Most of the posters here are focused on the size or height, which isn't relevant.

The standards for a shed are slightly different, but it’s interesting that the fact that this shed couldn’t be seen from the street and that it blended with the look of the houses in the neighborhood were taken into account. Adverse impact can be related to size and height in terms of whether a building has an effect on others.

To be clear, it isn't the impact of the building-it is the impact of the setback reduction.

The impact of the setback reduction varies with the size and height of the building. A taller or longer building would have more area intruding in to setback than a lower or smaller building.

In addition, an intrusion at the back of a building will have less impact than one that can be seen from the street.

That's true, but it is only the impact of the difference between the 6 inches that matters. A bigger/taller building has more of an impact in general, but the difference in impact between those 6 inches is negligible.

Well, the reasonable person can differ here. Many people would find that a six inch intrusion has more impact when it is over a longer and/or taller wall area.

You'd be wrong.

From the neighbor's front door, their back porch, the visual difference in height would be 1% (difference in visual width is less- about 0.85%).

Even going right up to their own setback, the difference in height is only 1.6%.

This is imperceptible. There is no impact.

It’s not just the difference to the immediate neighbors, it’s also the difference to how it can be seen from the street and from behind.

I'm not sure what you mean. There isn't going to be a difference from that perspective. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

It can be seen as closer to the property line, thus giving a sense of being crowded in. It goes to the overall character of the neighborhood.

Also, we’re considering this six inches before gutters, downspouts, siding, and shutters have been added. The intrusion will be extended by several inches by these and will have more of a visual effect overall.

Ok, that's what you mean.

Suppose the neighbor's garage is built right on the setback. I don't think it is, but let use that as a worst-case scenario. 15.5 vs 16 ft is a 3% change. Still below what most people notice.

Again, the height of thirty feet makes that six or so inches have a far greater impact. Something that is taller is more obvious to the eye, and in this case gives a sense of the neighborhood being more crowded, less spacious because of being closer to the property line. The impact of which calls into consideration whether the addition is in harmony with the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else get the impression the owner of the monstrosity is here posting constantly?

Yes. It’s someone who keeps wanting to insist that their opinion is the only opinion.

I can tell you my biggest issue with the setback violation is fire safety.

This house fire was so close to its neighbors homes.
https://x.com/ffxfirerescue/status/1962093798365831237

Maybe I don't understand, but how is it that we safely have houses all over the country (and world) way closer to one another than 16 feet. I mean, hell, townhouses are literally attached to each other.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It looks like Courtney has her backyard shed in the setback. In two, actually. Maybe she thought they should cancel each other out. Will one of you tell her?

So we’re back to the verging-on-creepy posts about the neighbor again, I see.

She went on TV and had a helicopter fly over her house.

And?

Does asking questions about something happening in one’s neighborhood give others the right to make creepy comments about the person?

You gotta wonder if comments like this would be made if a man had asked these questions.

How is it creepy? Should have I instead gone on Facebook and posted the address? Then went to the media to have them take pictures of her house? Because that's somehow less creepy?

Yeah, it does make you wonder how this would have gone down if Mike was a woman and Courtney was a man.

Every setback is sacred,
Every setback is great!
If you’re six inches over,
You’ve committed a grave mistake!

I suggest you open a complaint with the zoning authority in Fairfax County. It's online. The shed might even be unpermitted.

This happened with a neighbor on my street. Another neighbor reported them. The county sent out notices to our whole block that there would be a hearing where we could state our concerns about the shed. The neighbor who reported it said they were against it, but all the other neighbors who came to the hearing were fine with it. The board gave them a variance for the shed.

Apparently this is fairly common and as long as most of the neighbors are okay with it, the allow it.

.

What the neighbors say doesn't have that much of an impact. The neighbors can speak to an adverse impact, but there has to be an adverse impact. And for setback encroachments, impacts will be minimal.

We were told that the neighbors views were taken into consideration. The people who complained were the only ones who spoke against it at the hearing, the others who made statements made the points that it was behind the house and can’t be seen from the street, so no adverse impact on anyone. It was also a very nice, attractive shed that had the same architecture as the houses in the neighborhood.

They are, to the extent they speak to the standards in ordinance. They would need to demonstrate an adverse impact from the requested modification- the setback reduction. Most of the posters here are focused on the size or height, which isn't relevant.

The standards for a shed are slightly different, but it’s interesting that the fact that this shed couldn’t be seen from the street and that it blended with the look of the houses in the neighborhood were taken into account. Adverse impact can be related to size and height in terms of whether a building has an effect on others.

To be clear, it isn't the impact of the building-it is the impact of the setback reduction.

The impact of the setback reduction varies with the size and height of the building. A taller or longer building would have more area intruding in to setback than a lower or smaller building.

In addition, an intrusion at the back of a building will have less impact than one that can be seen from the street.

That's true, but it is only the impact of the difference between the 6 inches that matters. A bigger/taller building has more of an impact in general, but the difference in impact between those 6 inches is negligible.

Well, the reasonable person can differ here. Many people would find that a six inch intrusion has more impact when it is over a longer and/or taller wall area.

You'd be wrong.

From the neighbor's front door, their back porch, the visual difference in height would be 1% (difference in visual width is less- about 0.85%).

Even going right up to their own setback, the difference in height is only 1.6%.

This is imperceptible. There is no impact.

It’s not just the difference to the immediate neighbors, it’s also the difference to how it can be seen from the street and from behind.

I'm not sure what you mean. There isn't going to be a difference from that perspective. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

It can be seen as closer to the property line, thus giving a sense of being crowded in. It goes to the overall character of the neighborhood.

Also, we’re considering this six inches before gutters, downspouts, siding, and shutters have been added. The intrusion will be extended by several inches by these and will have more of a visual effect overall.

Ok, that's what you mean.

Suppose the neighbor's garage is built right on the setback. I don't think it is, but let use that as a worst-case scenario. 15.5 vs 16 ft is a 3% change. Still below what most people notice.

Again, the height of thirty feet makes that six or so inches have a far greater impact. Something that is taller is more obvious to the eye, and in this case gives a sense of the neighborhood being more crowded, less spacious because of being closer to the property line. The impact of which calls into consideration whether the addition is in harmony with the community.

No, it doesn't. That 30 ft height applies whether it's 16 ft or 15.5 ft gap.

You're free to try this arguement at the hearing, but you're going to look silly when they bring renderings.

[Anonymous]

You guys keep it trying to turn this into an opportunity to relitigate the height. That's great news for the homeowner here because it will never work. You're going to need to come up with a better arguement than that.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It looks like Courtney has her backyard shed in the setback. In two, actually. Maybe she thought they should cancel each other out. Will one of you tell her?

So we’re back to the verging-on-creepy posts about the neighbor again, I see.

She went on TV and had a helicopter fly over her house.

And?

Does asking questions about something happening in one’s neighborhood give others the right to make creepy comments about the person?

You gotta wonder if comments like this would be made if a man had asked these questions.

How is it creepy? Should have I instead gone on Facebook and posted the address? Then went to the media to have them take pictures of her house? Because that's somehow less creepy?

Yeah, it does make you wonder how this would have gone down if Mike was a woman and Courtney was a man.

Every setback is sacred,
Every setback is great!
If you’re six inches over,
You’ve committed a grave mistake!

I suggest you open a complaint with the zoning authority in Fairfax County. It's online. The shed might even be unpermitted.

This happened with a neighbor on my street. Another neighbor reported them. The county sent out notices to our whole block that there would be a hearing where we could state our concerns about the shed. The neighbor who reported it said they were against it, but all the other neighbors who came to the hearing were fine with it. The board gave them a variance for the shed.

Apparently this is fairly common and as long as most of the neighbors are okay with it, the allow it.

.

What the neighbors say doesn't have that much of an impact. The neighbors can speak to an adverse impact, but there has to be an adverse impact. And for setback encroachments, impacts will be minimal.

We were told that the neighbors views were taken into consideration. The people who complained were the only ones who spoke against it at the hearing, the others who made statements made the points that it was behind the house and can’t be seen from the street, so no adverse impact on anyone. It was also a very nice, attractive shed that had the same architecture as the houses in the neighborhood.

They are, to the extent they speak to the standards in ordinance. They would need to demonstrate an adverse impact from the requested modification- the setback reduction. Most of the posters here are focused on the size or height, which isn't relevant.

The standards for a shed are slightly different, but it’s interesting that the fact that this shed couldn’t be seen from the street and that it blended with the look of the houses in the neighborhood were taken into account. Adverse impact can be related to size and height in terms of whether a building has an effect on others.

To be clear, it isn't the impact of the building-it is the impact of the setback reduction.

The impact of the setback reduction varies with the size and height of the building. A taller or longer building would have more area intruding in to setback than a lower or smaller building.

In addition, an intrusion at the back of a building will have less impact than one that can be seen from the street.

That's true, but it is only the impact of the difference between the 6 inches that matters. A bigger/taller building has more of an impact in general, but the difference in impact between those 6 inches is negligible.

Well, the reasonable person can differ here. Many people would find that a six inch intrusion has more impact when it is over a longer and/or taller wall area.

You'd be wrong.

From the neighbor's front door, their back porch, the visual difference in height would be 1% (difference in visual width is less- about 0.85%).

Even going right up to their own setback, the difference in height is only 1.6%.

This is imperceptible. There is no impact.

It’s not just the difference to the immediate neighbors, it’s also the difference to how it can be seen from the street and from behind.

I'm not sure what you mean. There isn't going to be a difference from that perspective. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

You’re not misunderstanding. You’re being purposely obtuse. You know full well they mean that from the street that house with the addition is an eyesore to the neighborhood. There is a negative impact to every single house nearby.

No, I really don't understand what point they're trying to make there. Moving the house over 6 inches wouldn't change the distance from the street. And from other positions in the neighborhood, the difference from those 6 inches would be even less.

You see to be making a point about the addition regardless of its position from the setback. But the pp seemed to be talking about the impact of the 6 inches.

It is going to be at least 12 inches over the line once the gutters and roof overhang are added.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else get the impression the owner of the monstrosity is here posting constantly?

Of course.

That is fairly obvious

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else get the impression the owner of the monstrosity is here posting constantly?

Yes. It’s someone who keeps wanting to insist that their opinion is the only opinion.

I can tell you my biggest issue with the setback violation is fire safety.

This house fire was so close to its neighbors homes.
https://x.com/ffxfirerescue/status/1962093798365831237

There is a large house that burned almost to the ground in Burke South Run neighborhood right before Christmas.

The house is likely a similar height or maybe a couple of feet shorter than this monstrosity.

The lots sizes there are large, with much more space between the burned down house and its neighbors.

All of the houses surrounding the burnt down house suffered damage from the fire.

There is definitely tremendous fire risk to the neighboring homes from the size and crowding of this 3 story addition.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It looks like Courtney has her backyard shed in the setback. In two, actually. Maybe she thought they should cancel each other out. Will one of you tell her?

So we’re back to the verging-on-creepy posts about the neighbor again, I see.

She went on TV and had a helicopter fly over her house.

And?

Does asking questions about something happening in one’s neighborhood give others the right to make creepy comments about the person?

You gotta wonder if comments like this would be made if a man had asked these questions.

How is it creepy? Should have I instead gone on Facebook and posted the address? Then went to the media to have them take pictures of her house? Because that's somehow less creepy?

Yeah, it does make you wonder how this would have gone down if Mike was a woman and Courtney was a man.

Every setback is sacred,
Every setback is great!
If you’re six inches over,
You’ve committed a grave mistake!

I suggest you open a complaint with the zoning authority in Fairfax County. It's online. The shed might even be unpermitted.

This happened with a neighbor on my street. Another neighbor reported them. The county sent out notices to our whole block that there would be a hearing where we could state our concerns about the shed. The neighbor who reported it said they were against it, but all the other neighbors who came to the hearing were fine with it. The board gave them a variance for the shed.

Apparently this is fairly common and as long as most of the neighbors are okay with it, the allow it.

.

What the neighbors say doesn't have that much of an impact. The neighbors can speak to an adverse impact, but there has to be an adverse impact. And for setback encroachments, impacts will be minimal.

We were told that the neighbors views were taken into consideration. The people who complained were the only ones who spoke against it at the hearing, the others who made statements made the points that it was behind the house and can’t be seen from the street, so no adverse impact on anyone. It was also a very nice, attractive shed that had the same architecture as the houses in the neighborhood.

They are, to the extent they speak to the standards in ordinance. They would need to demonstrate an adverse impact from the requested modification- the setback reduction. Most of the posters here are focused on the size or height, which isn't relevant.

The standards for a shed are slightly different, but it’s interesting that the fact that this shed couldn’t be seen from the street and that it blended with the look of the houses in the neighborhood were taken into account. Adverse impact can be related to size and height in terms of whether a building has an effect on others.

To be clear, it isn't the impact of the building-it is the impact of the setback reduction.

The impact of the setback reduction varies with the size and height of the building. A taller or longer building would have more area intruding in to setback than a lower or smaller building.

In addition, an intrusion at the back of a building will have less impact than one that can be seen from the street.

That's true, but it is only the impact of the difference between the 6 inches that matters. A bigger/taller building has more of an impact in general, but the difference in impact between those 6 inches is negligible.

Well, the reasonable person can differ here. Many people would find that a six inch intrusion has more impact when it is over a longer and/or taller wall area.

You'd be wrong.

From the neighbor's front door, their back porch, the visual difference in height would be 1% (difference in visual width is less- about 0.85%).

Even going right up to their own setback, the difference in height is only 1.6%.

This is imperceptible. There is no impact.

It’s not just the difference to the immediate neighbors, it’s also the difference to how it can be seen from the street and from behind.

I'm not sure what you mean. There isn't going to be a difference from that perspective. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

You’re not misunderstanding. You’re being purposely obtuse. You know full well they mean that from the street that house with the addition is an eyesore to the neighborhood. There is a negative impact to every single house nearby.

No, I really don't understand what point they're trying to make there. Moving the house over 6 inches wouldn't change the distance from the street. And from other positions in the neighborhood, the difference from those 6 inches would be even less.

You see to be making a point about the addition regardless of its position from the setback. But the pp seemed to be talking about the impact of the 6 inches.

It is going to be at least 12 inches over the line once the gutters and roof overhang are added.

I doubt that's true, but even if it is, the addition would be equally objectionable if it were a foot narrower.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It looks like Courtney has her backyard shed in the setback. In two, actually. Maybe she thought they should cancel each other out. Will one of you tell her?

So we’re back to the verging-on-creepy posts about the neighbor again, I see.

She went on TV and had a helicopter fly over her house.

And?

Does asking questions about something happening in one’s neighborhood give others the right to make creepy comments about the person?

You gotta wonder if comments like this would be made if a man had asked these questions.

How is it creepy? Should have I instead gone on Facebook and posted the address? Then went to the media to have them take pictures of her house? Because that's somehow less creepy?

Yeah, it does make you wonder how this would have gone down if Mike was a woman and Courtney was a man.

Every setback is sacred,
Every setback is great!
If you’re six inches over,
You’ve committed a grave mistake!

I suggest you open a complaint with the zoning authority in Fairfax County. It's online. The shed might even be unpermitted.

This happened with a neighbor on my street. Another neighbor reported them. The county sent out notices to our whole block that there would be a hearing where we could state our concerns about the shed. The neighbor who reported it said they were against it, but all the other neighbors who came to the hearing were fine with it. The board gave them a variance for the shed.

Apparently this is fairly common and as long as most of the neighbors are okay with it, the allow it.

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What the neighbors say doesn't have that much of an impact. The neighbors can speak to an adverse impact, but there has to be an adverse impact. And for setback encroachments, impacts will be minimal.

We were told that the neighbors views were taken into consideration. The people who complained were the only ones who spoke against it at the hearing, the others who made statements made the points that it was behind the house and can’t be seen from the street, so no adverse impact on anyone. It was also a very nice, attractive shed that had the same architecture as the houses in the neighborhood.

They are, to the extent they speak to the standards in ordinance. They would need to demonstrate an adverse impact from the requested modification- the setback reduction. Most of the posters here are focused on the size or height, which isn't relevant.

The standards for a shed are slightly different, but it’s interesting that the fact that this shed couldn’t be seen from the street and that it blended with the look of the houses in the neighborhood were taken into account. Adverse impact can be related to size and height in terms of whether a building has an effect on others.

To be clear, it isn't the impact of the building-it is the impact of the setback reduction.

The impact of the setback reduction varies with the size and height of the building. A taller or longer building would have more area intruding in to setback than a lower or smaller building.

In addition, an intrusion at the back of a building will have less impact than one that can be seen from the street.

That's true, but it is only the impact of the difference between the 6 inches that matters. A bigger/taller building has more of an impact in general, but the difference in impact between those 6 inches is negligible.

Well, the reasonable person can differ here. Many people would find that a six inch intrusion has more impact when it is over a longer and/or taller wall area.

You'd be wrong.

From the neighbor's front door, their back porch, the visual difference in height would be 1% (difference in visual width is less- about 0.85%).

Even going right up to their own setback, the difference in height is only 1.6%.

This is imperceptible. There is no impact.

It’s not just the difference to the immediate neighbors, it’s also the difference to how it can be seen from the street and from behind.

I'm not sure what you mean. There isn't going to be a difference from that perspective. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

You’re not misunderstanding. You’re being purposely obtuse. You know full well they mean that from the street that house with the addition is an eyesore to the neighborhood. There is a negative impact to every single house nearby.

No, I really don't understand what point they're trying to make there. Moving the house over 6 inches wouldn't change the distance from the street. And from other positions in the neighborhood, the difference from those 6 inches would be even less.

You see to be making a point about the addition regardless of its position from the setback. But the pp seemed to be talking about the impact of the 6 inches.

It is going to be at least 12 inches over the line once the gutters and roof overhang are added.

Roof overhang has been there for months.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Anyone else get the impression the owner of the monstrosity is here posting constantly?

Yes. It’s someone who keeps wanting to insist that their opinion is the only opinion.

I can tell you my biggest issue with the setback violation is fire safety.

This house fire was so close to its neighbors homes.
https://x.com/ffxfirerescue/status/1962093798365831237

There is a large house that burned almost to the ground in Burke South Run neighborhood right before Christmas.

The house is likely a similar height or maybe a couple of feet shorter than this monstrosity.

The lots sizes there are large, with much more space between the burned down house and its neighbors.

All of the houses surrounding the burnt down house suffered damage from the fire.

There is definitely tremendous fire risk to the neighboring homes from the size and crowding of this 3 story addition.

From your story, it doesn't sound like more space and/or less height would make much of a difference.