Reply to Why do they allow all the tear downs in Bethesda?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The county LOVES these hideous monstrosities as the county does get more in taxes. Bethesda gets nothing but reduced quality of life.

Also benefitting - local realtors and builders getting rich off of these high priced sales and pocketing it all. Other Nethesda residents , again, get nothing but a reduced quality of life.

Now when people, especially older residents,  are looking for a small house there aren’t any because the builders have bought them all. [/quote]

Please explain how a larger house on your street gives you a "reduced quality of life."  [/quote]

Well, if you have a house that's built almost entirely over the lot (which many of these McMansions do), it reduces privacy for all involved because your neighbor is literally on top of you.  Plus it looks ugly.  McMansions are often taller which changes the character of the neighborhood.  McMansions shouldn't be on 5.5K lots.  It's just disproportionate and ugly.  [/quote]

Lobby the county to change the yard setbacks. New houses have to have permits.  If construction is permitted, then yard setbacks are as required.  [/quote]

Yard setbacks, at least in Montgomery County, are averages.  That is, you can have a porch jutting out into the border of your property and if the rest of the house is further back, MoCo DPS considers that fine.  But the end result is that the new McMansion is now right on top of your backyard, fishbowl style.  It's easy to say "lobby the county" but these things are not easy to change and are not likely to change given the influence of developers and their campaign contribution.   [/quote]

Then live with it. The agency that governs the setbacks is the county's permitting office, not any one person's individual taste. [/quote]

This, exactly.  A shorter version of this conversation:

Person A:  "I really don't like the new houses, they're too big and ugly!"
Person B:  "Well, they're permitted by the current zoning laws, so if you really want to do something about them, you need to lobby the county to change those laws."
Person A:  "But it's too hard to change the county laws!  I want people to stop because I say so.  I also would really like it if people ran their aesthetic decisions by me, so I can approve them beforehand."
Person B:  [Shrugs and goes to check on toddler, who displays more rational thought processes than Person A.]

[/quote]
What a gross oversimplification. People aren't complaining about McMansions because they are big and ugly.  They're complaining because the McMansions can have an adverse effect on their property.   As others have mentioned upthread, swapping a tiny 1200 square foot footprint house with a 50 square foot setback to a 5000 square foot house with an average of a 20 foot setback can really limit privacy for both parties.  You're literally living on top of someone--might as well put in taller townhouses which are more space efficient  than have a 5000 square foot plus McMansion which is just environmentally unsound unless you have 6 kids.   Also, when people remove most of the lawn/trees/backyard from a lot to make room for the new house footprint, the soil/trees aren't there to absorb water.  Many of my neighbors have suffered from drainage plans approved by DPS that aren't adequate for the new size of the McMansion.  [/quote]

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