While I'll be the first to say that a property owner should be able to do as they please with their property, there are also limitations that should be in place to some point.
In this case, I think the metal building is out of place. IMO at a minimum the exterior should have been made to match the house, which I think would have gone a long way towards helping the neighbor's attitude.
Unfortunately there are no cut and dried answers to what exactly the limitations should be because there are alot of variables.
We just went through a 5 month ordeal trying to a foreclosure home on a 1.25 acre lot. Would have needed a shop built, and while their codes were fairly loose in most areas they had a limit that said the "accessory" building should be no taller than the house. Well, the house on the place was a ranch with a low pitched roof, so the shop building by their latest code would have been limited to 15' tall. This would have been all fine and good if all the neighboring houses were ranch styles, but instead the neighbors on either side had raised ranch/split foyer styles that were considerably taller. Plus, there were other buildings in the neighborhood that had been built prior to the code that were well outside the present code.
So, I would have only been able to build a 15' total heighth, while the neighbors on either side would have been able to build close to 20' high. Plus others already had "noncomforming" buildings. In this case, IMO the new codes were discrimatory as there was no "standard" in the neighborhood. Had all the homes been 15' tall ranches a 20' tall accessory building would have been really out of place in the overall look.
However, we have now finally told the mortgage company holding the forclosure to stick in their ear and went a bought another property.
In THIS case, the new property is also 1.2 acres in an 18 home development, but it is in a large grove of trees. This time of year you have to look really hard to even catch a glimpse of the neighboring house or buildings. Nearly every lot in the development has an extra garage or pole building, but even from the street you have a hard time seeing most of them. It really doesn't matter what the extra buildings look like.
I think we all need to take these things into consideration when we build our shops, AND when we're doing our work in and around the shops after they're built. Basically, lack of consideration for others has been the reason why homeowners associations and covenants were formed in the first place. Think about it.
Yes, a property owner should have the right to do as they please, however so does the property owner next door. If you please to make horrendous amounts of noise while they're pleasing to sleep, or if you please to build a 3 story shop right across where they please to watch the wildlife there's gonna be troubles.
BTW, the property we signed on this week has 2 stalls on the house AND a
30x40x12 existing polebuilding
Looking forward to more pics.
