[dagogo redux]

I grew up a few miles from Chevy Chase, but that's neither here nor there.

Twice in my life I've had my property values ruined by neighbors building massive, oversize monstrosities way over the easements. I guess they just figured, both real arrogant construction/developer dudes who must have known they were in violation, that no one could get them to move it once it was done. Sued both times and won. I'm not happy about having to go that route, but the substantial damage to my property's value could not be rectified in any other way without forcing them to re-build their bloated structure to a smaller scale. So I've got no sympathy for these folks. Sounds like they are simply in violation, and the laws are being enforced.

[Fruitbat]

Yeah, and complicating the matter is the fact that everyone in the DC area thinks that they're more important than anyone around them. That's one enormous drawback of living in the region. If you live there, in order to maintain sanity, I've always held the belief that you have to get the hell outta there frequently to "normal America."

[khnyny]

The house is BUILT ON THE SAME FOOTPRINT as the old house which was built in 1923. It is a TECHNICALITY in the law, which was changed many years later, after 1923 when the house was built. The neighbors legal stance is that the Duffy's did not do this renovation in "stages", because if they had (which they say they did, and had county approval for, btw), the neighbors and the county have no legal recourse.

From the article:

[Building regulations enacted long after the house was built in 1923 require houses to be farther from the street and from neighbors. A renovation means the house can stay where it is; a new home would have to be sited differently on the lot.]