Montgomery County Utopians are trying to pass a law against mansionization of neighborhoods by the [evil] rich.

The bill, introduced two years ago by Howard A. Denis (R-Potomac-Bethesda), is designed to eliminate loopholes and ambiguities in the law that have allowed some builders to exceed the limits of 35 feet and 2 1/2 stories...

Telling people what they can and can't do with their own property; the new American past time.

Current law places some restrictions on construction of new, large houses, requiring in many cases that builders put eight to 10 feet between a new house and neighbors on both sides.

But the law also makes what would seem to be a fairly straightforward matter -- measuring the height of a house -- almost impossibly convoluted. There are ongoing disputes over what constitutes a story, when a basement is not a basement and where measurement of the 35 feet should begin.

Builders also have been able for several years to rely on a county regulation that allows them to tear down almost all of an older house except two exterior walls. They can then label the new construction an addition or renovation and avoid stricter requirements on new houses.

Denis's bill would simplify the way heights are measured.

Of course the environmentalist wackos are going nuts over the issue.

[Delightfully named] Carol Green, an environmental lawyer who lives in a section of Bethesda where older houses are rapidly being supplanted by towering, multistory dwellings, said lack of strictly enforced height limits has given builders free rein.

"The character of lovely older neighborhoods has been changed as a result of very clear loopholes in the zoning ordinance that everyone admits exist," she said.

You gotta love the arrogance of these people. They want to force people to live in ramshackle old houses because of the character it adds to their neighborhood. Notice that Green is perfectly willing to preserve these houses with someone else's money. Why doesn't she put her money where her mouth is, by buying the houses herself and renting them out to tenants. Then she could ensure that they wouldn't be torn down to make way for new construction (save for Montgomery County seizing the houses through emminent domain).