Reply to Massive home addition causes confusion in Fairfax County neighborhood

Forum Index » Real Estate

Reply to "Massive home addition causes confusion in Fairfax County neighborhood"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is WILD to me. I am from the Western US (live in DC now) and before I left my hometown I worked for my families construction business for years. The area we lived in had very liberal zoning laws (part of the the somewhat libertarian culture there) and this would never fly. The biggest issue is the set back -- building a three story structure less than 10 feet from a shared property line would just never pass approval in a suburban neighborhood like this. The only place you could do that would be in an urban neighborhood designed for townhome construction where setbacks are intentionally narrow and people assume high density and minimal space between houses when they buy in.

I could see a three story structure getting approval if it was at the back of the property and at least 25 feet from another structure. I could also see an addition right up against the set back (not the property line but whatever the setback requirement is for the structures on property -- it's crazy to me that the set backs in this neighborhood either don't exist or are less than 10 feet, I've never seen that before) but never more than two stories) but not three stories. I can think of 4 or 5 ways this family could get the same square footage and functionality as this addition without building three stories right on the property line. Also as someone with a lot of experience with custom layouts of additions, this looks like an awful layout. I'm guessing the plan is essentially to turn the upper two stories of the addition into 1 or 2 bedroom apartments for the additional family living there, likely with kitchenettes. This is essentially a multi-family dwelling. It's crazy this was allowed.

If I were the neighbor, I'd be working with a lawyer to identify any deficiencies in their permitting, and I'd be watching construction like a hawk and documenting every irregularity, and reporting it to authorities. I'd also be digging into property taxes to see if she can find an irregularities. Basically I'd go nuclear on this. It sounds like they had lax zoning laws simply because no one had ever tried anything this hostile before, so she is going to have to do everything else in her power. Going to the news was a start but I'd be looking for other regulatory and legal avenues for shutting this down. I would be shocked if the contractor is properly bonded, for instance, because I can't imagine many legitimate contractors would agree to this. I'd also be looking at their labor practices. Report it all. [/quote]

What can you find from property taxes? What would be irregular? I mean you pay or you get fined, right?[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics