http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...onster_garages


TROY, Mich. - Paul Piscopo wanted a home for his nine cars with plenty
of space left over for other vehicles he might buy down the road.

So, while building a house in suburban Detroit, he also put up a garage
- a cavernous 6,000-square-foot structure that covers three times as
much ground as his home and can hold 28 full-size pickup trucks.

"It's a beautiful garage," Piscopo said, smiling. "It's got all the
amenities."

But some of his neighbors disagree, calling it an eyesore. And they are
not the only ones raising questions about outsized garages.

As more people buy larger cars and trucks, cities are struggling with
how to regulate huge garages while balancing the rights of property
owners and nearby residents.

Neighbors have dubbed it the "Monster Garage" and insist Piscopo's
hulking sheet metal structure has hurt their property values. They want
it torn down.

"You have to see it to believe the disaster," said George Reed, who has
lived next door to Piscopo's property for nearly 40 years.

The Troy City Council and the city planning commission met recently to
discuss tightening restrictions on similar garages in the future. But
it is unlikely any changes would affect Piscopo's property because
revisions to city ordinances would affect only new construction
projects.

Garages have grown steadily bigger over the last 20 years, prompting
communities to review zoning regulations, said Brian Wenzel, chief
operating officer of Atwell-Hicks, an Ann Arbor-based development
consulting firm that does business in 20 states.

"Debates over restrictions aren't just occurring in the Midwest.
They're occurring in places like California and Portland, Oregon, and
across the country," he said.

In Schererville, Ind., city officials halted construction of a home in
February after noticing its garage door was taller than the city's
9-foot limit. The garage had been designed to accommodate a motor home
almost 13 feet tall and 10 feet wide.

The homeowners, whose construction plans had been approved by city
officials, were later granted a variance and allowed to continue
building.

In suburban Pittsburgh, officials considered a new ordinance that would
prohibit attached garages from exceeding 20 percent of a home's total
size.

Piscopo said he made every effort to comply with city regulations when
he drew up plans for the garage. The city granted him a construction
permit in 2003.

Plans for the enormous structure were approved because the building
covers less than 30 percent of Piscopo's acre lot and is set back from
the road. Only after construction began did neighbors start to
complain, he said.

Once they realized the size of Piscopo's project, Reed and another
neighbor took their concerns to the City Council but made little
progress.

They filed an appeal with the city's zoning board of appeals, claiming
the city had wrongfully issued a building permit to Piscopo. A hearing
on the appeal is scheduled for Tuesday.

The other neighbor, Tom Trent, maintains that if the board rules in
their favor, it could order Piscopo to tear down the whole thing and
start from scratch.

That probably would result in a messy legal battle that both sides hope
to avoid.

"I don't want to deal with all that," Piscopo said. "It doesn't pay.
The only one who wins that way are the lawyers."

Reed said he recently met with a real estate agent who told him his
home's proximity to the garage could cut its value by as much as 25
percent, and even then he would have a hard time selling it.

Reed told the City Council and planning commission that the garage
"shouldn't have been put there."

"It's kind of destroyed my future security," he said.