About zoning and setback regulations for
my lot
Ever since Bill was a child, he loved to tear things down. When other kids would stack blocks, he would knock them down. Build a snowman, he would clothes-line it with a running tackle. It was no surprise, then, when Bill and his wife, Margie, decided to buy a tear-down cabin with a beautiful view of the lake. Some people would have thought the old cabin still had years of use in it. Bill only saw a demolition possibility.
The day the heavy equipment showed up, Bill pleaded with the foreman to let him ride in the cab and take the first run at the cabin. Within 30 minutes, all that was left was a pile of 2 x 4s, siding and shingles. Bill videotaped the entire carnage. “Man, this is cool,” is barely audible on the tape.
After all the debris was cleared away, Bill and Margie began interviewing contractors to build a new, larger cabin right where the old one stood. “Whoa,” said the first contractor. “You can’t build here. You’re too close to the shoreline.” Sure enough, the old cabin had been built before there were laws restricting how close to the water a cabin could be built. The current restrictions, based upon the size of their lake the new cabin and its natural environment, required that the new constructions could be built no closer than 200 feet from the shoreline.
The new cabin was eventually built, but its view of the lake was severely restricted by the 150 feet of dense forest. Bill sometimes wishes that he hadn’t torn down the old cabin. Well, until he pops the videotape back in the VCR.