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Mansions Get Remodeled

Apparently, size does matter.

New homes that resemble small palaces, require huge staffs to manage, and create seasonal surges for gas and electric companies are falling out of favor and running into trouble with local zoning regulators in a growing number of American towns.

What’s wrong with building a mega-mansion? County officials from Aspen (CO) to Arlington (VA) say they put seasonal stress on local services (such as the gas company, which has to heat these behemoth buildings), clash with existing neighborhoods, leave less land for affordable housing and give little back to the community.

In response, officials in Aspen, Arlington County, and Alamo, California, have recently created land-use codes that restrict square footage allowances for new and remodeled homes. In Arlington, for example, houses are being limited to taking up 30 percent of a lot, down from 56 percent. In Aspen, officials are considering a ban on homes larger than 15,000 square feet (about one-fourth the size of the White House).

Building mega-mansions can create other problems, as well. They require excessive amounts of energy to cool, light and run appliances, thus burning wasteful amounts of fossil fuels that release carbon dioxide into the air and contribute to global warming. They destroy animal habitats. They add to water pollution by requiring excessive paving and other construction that leads to harmful runoff in neighborhood streams. And they often destroy large swaths of forest or wetlands that disrupt natural ecosystems and degrade scenic vistas.

Recently, the Potomac River was designated a “Last Chance Scenic Place” by Scenic Maryland as a result of deforestation along the Potomac corridor by landowners constructing mega-mansions. The construction of exceptionally large homes and destruction of forest has begun pockmarking the once pristine landscape along the Potomac, the wildest river in the world running through a metropolitan area.

For more information on this story, go to http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3593293 or www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-02-20-large-homes_x.htm. Also see www.scenicmaryland.org.

For energy saving tips for your home, see http://www.energysavers.gov/

To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org or www.healthandenvironment.org.