I don't know how many phone calls I've received from angry citizens who are pissed that a house is being constructed on the vacant 1/2 acre lot next door (which has been zoned residential for years) that will block their personal "view corridor" of the golf course/mountains, etc.
I enjoy explaining that the zoning allows for the exact same thing they've built previously on their lot.
My favorite complainants are from the people in subdivisions who are angry that the farmfield next to their sub is now proposed to be a sub. "But the added traffic, what about the loss of farmland, the development will bring more runoff, it's peacefull looking out at the farmfield..." I bite my toung every time. Last year, THEIR subdivision was a farm field.
Of course! Growth Control is the fastest growing home occupation in the suburbs!
I couldn't stop laughing at this quote... love it. Here on Cape Cod, MA, we've had a few of these "anti-development" groups from established, exclusive neighborhoods...my favorite was the group of upscale condo-complex residents - their complex was built in a B-2 zone (allows both business and residential), but they were all kicking and screaming when a business wanted to locate +400 feet away on the lot adjacent to the complex... sigh...
No joke: public hearing in my wife's county (she's a planner, too!), five,six weeks ago. Man steps to the mike to speak out against all the unchecked growth the county was allowing to occur, and asked that they do something about the new subdivision proposed next to his own. He raised all the standard arguments: pressure on the schools, cost of impact to existing county residents, etc.
Council chair asked him how long he'd lived in the county. "Just moved into my new house three weeks ago" was the response -- I swear! Everone busted out laughing, and the developer, on rebuttal, asked council (only half-jokingly) to limit opposing comments to residents who have finished unpacking boxes.
I'm laughing right now thinking about it.
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