What Qualifies a Room as a Legal Bedroom
Three things together make a bedroom: it’s habitable per code, it provides emergency escape directly to the outdoors and it is private. Closets are optional but not required.
7 Tips for Winning a Variance at the Zoning Board of Appeals
Zoning variances are supposed to be rare, but they are instead sometimes liberally granted. While a variance is never a sure bet, there are tactics to improve chances for a favorable outcome, even when technically speaking, there is no grounds for a variance.
What Contour Lines Mean and How to Interpret Them
Have you seen maps covered with swirling, curly lines and wondered what that’s all about? Contour maps are two-dimensional maps…
What a Datum, or Benchmark Is
Working with measurements, it is extremely important to exercise control. If you are not exercising control, then things don’t generally…
What Exactly is a Zoning Hardship?
In the context of zoning matters, a hardship is a very narrowly defined thing that is not so casually conjured and…
Do Code Violations in a House Require Correction?
There may be various scenarios in which you wonder whether code violations in a house require correction. Perhaps you are…
You’ve Outgrown the House. Now Do You Enlarge It or Move?
Have you outgrown your house? Weigh these factors when deciding whether to expand a family home vs. move to a…
The Neighbor’s House Doesn’t Meet Zoning – Why Should Yours?
A likely reason that buildings in any given zoning district might not conform to the current zoning regulations of that…