I am sad...I hate to be this way...we are losing our view of the hills.

[Tikki]

It is an older neighborhood in a semi-rural part of a bedroom community just North of Los Angeles near the Coast.

It was a tiny, maybe 500 sq ft. post war, but custom on an 1/4 acre lot. I can't blame the new owner for
wanting a hillside property near the Coast, but he is going up to a second level and it will run
parallel to our view of the hills above. We will lose almost all of our view unless we step into the back part
of our lot.

It will finish like a new, big custom home and I know it will bRing up the value of this neighborhood
greatly, but I am sad to lose my view. I have lived her since 1978 and got used to seeing the sun rise over those hills.

Tikki
The cement mixers are here today so I know it is really happening.

UPDATE..October 2015

One year later..the house is over priced, poorly planned and will not sell anytime soon.

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Check your city/state laws.

I have read of laws that protect your right to sunshine and views, and there is much sentiment against McMansions being dumped on too small lots.
Also, check the lot rules. Often there is a law limiting the footprint of a house on a lot, so if this guy builds beyond that, on his own lot, he can be taken to court.
Got a neighborhood home or civic association? You might have allies.

[Tikki]

2. Already checked...It is going to be a long, skinny house, but the plans were approved.

He says he's building it for his daughter, but I think he is flipping it...

He paid under $400,000 here, which was a real steal...

If his daughter moves in when it's done, I will try to be nice. I am that way. But I will always be a bit sad.


Tikki

[jeff47]

3. If the cement mixers are there, it's probably too late.

The things you cite work by denying the building permit. If the cement mixers are there, they already have one.

Typically, the owner is required to notify the neighbors of the upcoming renovation, and then get approval from the local planning and zoning departments. The neighbors are supposed to make their objections to those departments, and can stop the approval process if the local laws allow it.

[woodsprite]

4. Could you add a tasteful sky deck to your house?

Just a thought, but one that I see when we go down to the beach for houses that are a bit inland.

[Tikki]

5. You know, it just might work....we should look into that.

I have never seen anyone around here with a rooftop deck, but hey...they got a permit maybe we could too.

Thanks
Tikki

[Warpy]

6. One great thing about my own mountain view

is that the mountains here were formed by uplift to the east and are sheer cliffs in many places, completely unsuitable for some yuppie monstrosity to be built to foul up everybody's view. It's also a bad neighborhood and I doubt if anything is going to increase our property values that much.

The hills to the west are black nubbins, remains of a line of ancient volcanoes that erupted when the rift valley first split apart. They're choked with yuppie barns and a lot of people were secretly gleeful when the state's volcanoes were reclassified from extinct to dormant.

A widow's walk/sky deck above your own house sounds like the best option for you. It might help you sell when/if the time comes because there will be something to look at besides an ugly two story house.

Good luck.

[jeff47]

7. Challenge Accepted!!

Just need to build something like this:
http://www.designboom.com/architecture/modscape-cliff-house-concept-victoria-australia-09-09-2014/

[Warpy]

8. I remember that one

and anybody who had a survey course in geology had a big laugh at the architect's expense. Imagine the slosh a few storms down the line as the sedimentary rock gets too chewed up to hold that monstrosity in place!

Even that wouldn't foul up nearly a mile of sheer cliffs. From a distance, it would look like just another shadow. It would share the misfortune of the sea cliff house, though, because the mountains to the east are sedimentary rock.

[blackcrowflies]

9. sorry

I had a beautiful water view spoiled by people who bought the neighbors' house as a second (or third, who knows) house and added to it. I looked them up on the web and the guy is a builder who built over an environmentally sensitive area in a neighboring state where the town regulations were not strong enough to prevent it.

They are terrible neighbors, too. Thank God they are only here part time, but they ruin the summer.