How do we stop a developer?

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Q. Behind my home is a large property with a very old, historic home on it. A contractor bought the property, since the home is abandoned, and wants to build three houses, but the neighbors feel it will cause overcrowding, the new houses will be ugly developer houses, and our views will be spoiled. We’re very concerned that our board will let him get away with it because it’s really political and about the money (taxes) more than it’s about our neighborhood’s appearance. How can we stop this? We don’t want it, and shouldn’t the voices of the many around the property have more weight than the one voice of a developer?

A. It’s not about whose voice is the loudest, or how many voices you can get. The situation has many facets that your zoning board has to consider. Those zoning laws require the board to consider several characteristics of the site, the impact on the owner, whether the case presented is based on a self-imposed hardship or one imposed by some outside source, whether the decision to grant the request will impact the health, safety or welfare of the surrounding properties, neighborhood or the community, and to what extent it benefits the property owner.

You do have rights, just as the developer does, but emotional issues are only part of the picture. To make your opposition meaningful, follow the specific guidelines that the board has to follow, and hire professionals who can be sworn in as qualified witnesses for your presentation. For example, if you say to the board that the new homes will lower your property values, the testimony will be considered on an emotional level only, since you are not sworn in as an expert who has presented credentials and been qualified to give expert testimony. If a real estate expert appears with facts, figures and a professional study to make the same statement, the weight of your argument, stated by your hired professional, is taken as facts relevant to the case, with proof. The same goes for a legal expert (attorney), a traffic expert, an architect, etc.

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