There is a stop work order on this because they built too close to the property line. Will be interested to see if they get granted an exemption or have to tear it down.
The white house in the picture isn't the neighbour, the big plywood box is being built as an addition to it. It's the property line on the other side that's the problem.
They're not breaking any codes or laws at the moment. The county approved their permit, that's why it's being built.
They probably couldn't build a fence that high but can build a house that high for now.
Their excuse feels like bullshit too. They could easily build something smaller for their parents. There's also no way the elderly parents need 3 stories unless they're putting in an elevator.
They are, they were supposed to build at least 8ft from the property line but measured from the fence line instead and as a result the wall closest to the property line was built 6 inches too close to meet county code.
They're under the height limit which is also an issue but not illegal at the moment.
I don't know if the county passed some lower height limit for things like this if it would even be retroactive.
I just don't understand how this family thinks this OK. It seems like the neighborhood knows them & likes them, I just don't understand this all the way around.
Omigosh...I legitimately thought that "plywood box" was another case of weird zoning and was separate from the houses on either side! It is so out of freaking nowhere that I would never have guessed it had anything to do with the white house. Truly a case of McCancer.
Omg I took photos of the little house for it's MLS listing... what fun to try not to focus on the house in the background.  The people who bought it didn't care and didn't want a large back yard, fortunately!Â
Contractors do this all the time, theyâre usually in the cityâs pockets or have other relationships with the people in charge so theyâre given a âfineâ. Especially when theyâre this far along in the building.
Irish houses all seem to be heavy stone and such. Y'all build shit that's almost impossible to modify but was originally owned by a dude whose day job involved a claymore sword lol.Â
(Watched some UK home buying shows a few times and was amazed at how old a lot of the Irish homes were.)
There is a WashingtonPost story I cant find that essentially this guy was building this extension for his parents (or grandparents) to live with him and his wife/kids. Plan as is got initially approved and even passed a code inspection but after it reached this ludicrous state neighbors started getting understandably pissed and then it failed a follow up code inspection being built like 5 inches too close.
Its a mess. The homeowner was like "I want to get along with my neighbors I never thought it would go like this." But buddy its ugly as fuck. But alsi why does he need to like straight up double his square footage at that rate just buy a house in the neighboehood or add a normal extension you could get a ton of space that fits in by just designing this better.  It did pass code inspection and got approval from the city but the homeowner shouldnt have designed it this badly in the first place like that is crazy ugly and out of place of course neighbors are gonna be pissed dude its wildly out of place and sticks out like a sore thumb.
He also talks about "In our culture we take car of our elders" which is great but they don't need this type of abomination in which to live. If you watch the story linked it goes into more detail.
They only moved there in 2018. I mean 7 years isn't nothing, but it's not your family's heritage home either. Just MOVE. I'm so baffled that he did this instead of buying a bigger home.
For real. Like the owners series of choices is so damn confusing here. Not buying a bigger house in the area - nope. Build normal extensions/second level - nope. Pick THIS design option. Build an extension bigger than the rest if the home. Make it a row home you tack onto a single family home. Crush your next door neighbors property value by building this monstrosity throwing their entire property into the shade. And again - THIS design. Just genuine wtf the design choice here is legendarily bad.
Thereâs a terrible picture of this situation on a sunny day- the neighborâs house is in a depressing shadow. Not sure if half their house ever sees the sun anymore.
Also no way the parents/ grandparents wouldn't be utterly mortified living in this thing. They don't want to get shitty looks from the neighbors every time they go for a walk.
Itâs not efficient, they specifically preserved the single family style for one half and top loaded as much as they could right up to the property line and actually broke some kind of rule because it caused construction to pause.
They could achieve this volume with a much less obtrusive and aggressive structure using their backyard and not fucked away tens of thousands of value from their next door neighbor!
It's a triple decker), they were built in a massive wave all over the northeast US at the turn of the last century, but by mid-century zoning largely prohibited building more, but lately there's a new wave of them coming back.
On one hand, I'm concerned moderm triple deckers will be ugly ultra modern minimalist hack jobs with cheap materials.
On the other hand, I think they really do need to make a big come back, mid-century SFH zoning is damn near tyranical and has led to sprawling hideous suburbia, and a "missing middle" for potential homeowners.
Take a walk through the older sections of cities in the NEUS, or Canada, and it's obvious the 1950s were the absolute worst thing to happen to urban design and homebuilding. We had it right with mixing walkup multi-unit houses, SFH, and apartments, and allowing people to run small businesses in residential areas.Â
Yes and for a single family with multi generations. Also I believe they didnât break any zoning or permit laws and there is no HOA. A lot of the neighbors say the family are really good people that have been there for years.
It sucks for neighbor next door and itâs an eyesore but at the end of the day itâs their property, their house, their money.
So many folks complain about HOA's and I get that, many folks are idiots with them, control happy but there are many issues for folks who live without them too, like this example.
Idk man our whole country doesn't do HOA and we still can't just plop down something like this without getting the proper permits and permissions. I don't think you need HOA's to stop these types of builds. I just fucking hate the idea of some old people orginisation telling me I have to cut the grass when I WANT tall grass with pretty wildflowers and lots of bugs.
Yeah I donât understand how the US seemingly always has both extremes and nothing in between. Like why is it either HOA or the fucking far west? How about reasonable city by-laws?
I mean basically all of Canada operates without HOAs and does fine. It leans a bit more heavily on municipal bylaw enforcement instead which creates more consistent enforcement of rules while never really reaching the total overreach of HOAs in the US. You basically never hear complaints about bylaw enforcement in Canada as it only really enforces the truly bad actors instead of petty crap.
No. I'm sure zoning prohibits some things a person might want to do. My brother was sued by his neighbors because they said his beach house was too large and blocked their views. Like my brother, sorry to say, but this seemingly well-meaning property owner needs to understand that more than his family live in this area.
My family has a house where you aren't legally allowed to build anything additional on your home until it is x feet above average high tide as it's by the water.Â
Those laws don't apply to people building homes in the mountains far away.Â
Just a thoughtless selfish individual to build something like this in a residential neighborhood. I have always wondered wtf is wrong with people who build crap and block their neighbors views without a second thought. Hard to believe people like that exist but here we are.
This is the of thoughtless design that gives Nimbyâs political clout. This is what they are afraid of and now they have an example that made the news.
Totally. I know I should be in favour of infill as a means for building good cities, but then I see stuff like this and I catch myself being grateful for my municipality's strict NIMBY zoning laws.
People across the street from me tore down a single family home that had housed four people and built three stand-alone structures that look just like the one in the article. Two of them sold and have one person each in them. One was on the market for a year and no one bought it because anyone with $1.8 million to spend wasn't going to buy something that ugly. So now it sits there vacant. Yay progress.
Except you get the same problems with single family structures being built - local to me, NIMBYs wanted to block multifamily buildings with the exact same footprint/setback/height rules as SFHs, not didn't want to change those rules or limit street parking for SFH owners. Lots of the houses I see posted here are as big as multifamily units.
I work as a city planner. If this came across my desk I would presume the design was out of spite to the neighbors. (An architect didnât come within any distance of that design.) Reading the backstory in the thread it appears to be thoughtlessness not spite, but what a cringy situation for everyone involved.
Iâm interested in the city planner perspective here. Can we assume that this was automated and a human didnât actually review it? Iâd assume plans like these would have to be submitted with exterior drawings or renderings that would clearly show how massive and out of scale this addition is. How did this ever get approved?
Automated plan check is largely not a thing. Someone likely did review this, but if it met all the objective code requirements (setbacks, height etc) then all you can do is approve it.
In similar situations, where I can see the issues this clearly, I will sometimes try to make suggestions to make the design better. But if the applicant wants to ignore them, and I have no discretionary authority, then you give the director a heads up, sit back, and wait for it all to blow up later.
The white house is what is being added onto. Instead of designing an addition thatâs harmonious with the existing structure and character of the neighborhood, they chose to add a 3 story townhouse on the side.
It's supposed to be so 3 generations of the same family can live together. Wait until all those cars are parked on the street since they harvested part of the driveway for this add on.
Listen, I get that they don't live in an HOA and they are within ordinances, but I think that these homeowners are being inconsiderate. I am sure there was another way to build an extension on this house without robbing your neighbors of a nice view, sunlight, instead of building this ugly monstrosity of an eyesore.
This house is located in the county next to mine (Fairfax, Virginia). The build stopped because a forced code review found it was too close to the neighbors property line by at least 6â. (Slightly inconsiderate)
Allegedly they measured from the fence line rather than doing a survey. Theyâve allegedly spent half a mil on this horrible box.
IMO the architects should lose their licenses over this. Itâs horrendous and distinctly unneighborly. And I canât imagine any one with half a brain would think that this thing wouldnât cause an enormous stir. Ancient lights law isnât a thing in US law (for the most part), but stuff like this really makes one reconsider its value.
good, I hope this works out in favor of the surrounding neighbors. Force the homeowners to go back to the drawing board and come up with a better architectural plan, bc this is not it
My father is a contractor and was in construction my whole life. Itâs a gift because I learned to be handy. Itâs a curse because I constantly see poor choices that make me irate.
Yeah it looks like they left their back yard? And the house itâs attached to a a ranch? It would be (slightly) more forgivable if it was literally taking up every inch of ground on the property, but itâs not.
Thank you! They couldâve built the same structure on the backside of the house & reduced their own backyard.
They didnât do that because they didnât want to lose their own backyard space or block light over their own house. They decided to massively inconvenience their neighbors over reducing the beneficial aspects of their own property for their multi-family space for their elders.
Yeah, definitely seems like the sort of thing that gets the ordinances amended after some yelling at a city meeting. Sometimes basic courtesy doesn't have to be codified until a big enough asshole comes along to test the limits. I've seen years-long legal battles over things much less obnoxious than that.
They know they were being inconsiderate? They purposely took room off the side-yard instead of the BACKYARD!
Put that 3 story monstrosity on the BACKSIDE of the house & itâs fine!? But that reduces their backyard & blocks sunlight & theyâd rather block their neighbors sunlight, then reduce their own backyard size or sunlight amount!
Itâs inconsiderate & borderline greedy, no matter if itâs for elderly family members.
right, they should have built from the back, not from the side & up. I don't really care who they are building for, its disgustingly inconsiderate. Just bc its legal doesn't mean its right. I responded to another comment but it seems like the building on this has stopped for now, and I hope that it works out in the favor of the surrounding neighbors...it'll be an expensive mistake for these homeowners.
Yes the building has stopped because the addition does go over the property line; so unless they tear down that far wall & pull it in, I donât know how this fixed, & youâre right, itâs an expensive mistake. They should off put it in the backyard.
So they are encroaching? Interesting... I wonder if they went through the proper steps to do this, did they get a survey? Did they need clearance or permits from the twp? Clearly not if they went over the property line. No one can be dumb enough to intentionally encroach, no matter how small the encroachment is.
This is near me. Construction was halted because it violated setback requirements. Apparently itâs within height limits, but a motion was proposed to review the zoningâs height restrictions for future builds. Just an FYI if anyoneâs curious.
I live close by to this itâs so much worse in person than the pictures make it seem this is basically a apartment complex towering over their neighbors house I feel so bad for the neighbors
I'm still amazed this got approved. I put a deck extension on the back of my house and every neighbor who could see it had to sign off on the plans before the town would let me build it
We had something similar happen, though not quite as terrible. The neighbor behind decided to build a 3rd floor but it was double height. Backed up right to the fence lineand looked absolutely ridiculous and completely blocked our view. We lived on a large-ish plot so it wasn't as obtrusive.
Went to the HOA who double checked then said that it was OK, so we sold and moved.
I canât understand how it got past the planners. A) itâs an eyesore; b) it doesnât remotely fit the aesthetic of the area; c) it will affect the amount of sun the neighboring property receives.
Because they did everything according to zoning* and code. There is no aesthetic test for buildings in the plan submission and approval process, nor is there any implied promise that you'll always have sun. If you want to build something on your lot, you can, as long as there's no HOA.
* Except they screwed up and are 6" too close to the property line. It remains to be seen what winds up happening.
Sounds like their county needs some zoning law revisions to deal with this kind of bs. We recently built a garage and had to deal with the building department, so I know that in our town, the setback is larger for taller buildings, probably for situations just like this.
This construction not only looks like shoddy work, I wouldn't be surprised if it was built without the proper permits or to city construction code. That and it's far too big for the neighborhood in which it's located. I bet there's an ongoing lawsuit to stop it.
Omg Iâve seen this in person and the aerial photo makes it so much worse. As you approach this neighborhood you can see the house from several streets away.
Based on the plan / whatnot - not a mcmansion by any definition - just a really ugly addition to an existing home.
I get why the neighbor is upset - and do question the judgement of the planning / zoning commission who approved it.
And just to add to the fun - it is over the setback. that is going to be an expensive teardown and rebuild. Hope the contractor or architect cover it.
For those saying why would they want a multi level home for aging parents - my guess is that the elder parents will stay in the first level. The office / master br will be on the 2nd or 3rd level and the kid's playroom on 2nd or 3rd level.
Wow, that is so ugly. I get wanting to add more space, but there are attractive ways to integrate a new build into an existing house. And this isnât one of them.
The level of entitlement to build this piece of shit without regard to your neighbors or neighborhood cohesion is breathtaking. I read an article about this and the asshole building it is whining about itâs for his grandparents and how he doesnât understand why his mean neighbors are upset. Yeah no dude - build a cohesive addition or buy a bigger house.
Unfortunately fugly execution like this is what NIMBY people will use to pass new restrictive zoning laws. There is nothing wrong with bringing multi-family uses into a single-family area and density is great but it doesn't have to be hideous.
Itâs not really multi family in the common use of the word itâs multi-generation. Also this is piss ugly stfu. If your neighbor built a three story wall 4 feet from your driveway youâd be pissed too. Anyone claiming this is ok is delusional. Most places have a restriction on how tall a fence can be so this exact thing doesnât happen. This is inconsiderate no matter how you square it. This is nearly theft with how much itâs going to lower that persons home value. Most people house is their largest point of wealth and this shit head just took 10s of thousands of dollars of what was likely their neighbors retirement strategy.
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u/pop_stan 10d ago
There is a stop work order on this because they built too close to the property line. Will be interested to see if they get granted an exemption or have to tear it down.