Arlington Journal Article:
A Neighborhood Copes with an Unconventional Home

Is it a house? Or a Danish modern community center? Or some type of yuppie designer barn?

Neighbors in my area of Arlington are abuzz over a unique structure that has been taking shape at tortoise-like speed over the past 2 1/2 years.

Its steep wooden roof now pokes through the treetops at more than twice the height of the neighboring ramblers.

It eats up the bulk of its cramped corner lot at North Sycamore and 27th streets, on a site that for decades contained a modest wooden bungalow.

Passersby notice the jutting wooden shell wrapped in Tyvec weather-stripping in a yard strewn with chiseled stones and Greek-temple-like columns.

The property straddles two neighborhood civic associations, and the e-mails have been flying.

Some neighbors across the street are upset that the towering architectural experiment has blocked their view and sunlight.

"The concern is that he is building some sort of rooming house, supported in part by the fact that he had six bathtubs delivered," says Ricky Pursley, whose home overlooks the project.

"Aside from zoning issues, he doesn't have parking space for multiple cars. The sad part, which we are seeing all over north Arlington, is the size of the structure relative to the size of the lot.

"It's testimony to the fact that we have no limits on what someone will be allowed to build. However nicely the structure may look when eventually finished, it is totally out of proportion to the rest of the neighborhood."

The beleaguered owner declined repeated requests for comment.

Conformity in home building can get sticky.

Back in 1969 in my boyhood Arlington neighborhood, local architect Brockhurst Eustice built a customized wooden contemporary on a narrow lot, but neighbors in our subdivision of standard colonials and split-levels squawked.

The case drew national news coverage before the Virginia Supreme Court forced Eustice to tear down his creation, which is now a vacant lot on Military Road, at the access road to Chain Bridge.

And in Old Town Alexandria, you can't even brush a swash of gayly colored paint on your 200-year-old townhouse without your neighbors pouncing.

In the Sycamore Street case, however, inquiries confirm that the owner is within his rights, as determined by Arlington's Board of Zoning Appeals.

The house is below 35 feet, lot coverage is limited to 56 percent, and he obtained variances for reduced setbacks from neighboring yards.

The county also has no reason to believe the owner is planning anything other than a single-family home, which the code defines as "a group of not more than four persons (including servants) whether or not related by blood or marriage living together and sharing living areas in a dwelling unit."

Ellen Jones, president of the Williamsburg Civic Association, has posted documents about the case on the Web site www.williamsburgcivicassociation.org.

"There are two schools of thought," she says. "One is that if you live next door in a nice residential area, why should a large home tower over nearby ramblers and require ripping out the trees and undermining the tree canopy?

"The other school says, `This is my private property, and too many restrictions lower the property values. If we don't allow owners to develop what people want to buy, then we won't have an economically viable neighborhood.'"

Tim Reese, president of the East Falls Church Civic Association, responded to constituent worries by approaching the owner and quizzing him.

In an e-mail to interested neighbors, Reese relayed the owner's complaint that onlookers had trespassed on his property.

The owner apparently has no plans to request a special permit for multiple-family use. And although Reese told him that the civic association would not welcome such a permit, he asked his members to treat the owner with courtesy.

Terry Russell, Arlington's zoning administrator, has received multiple calls about this unusual house, but says all is in compliance. "Developers for decades have been allowed to build with such setbacks, but never took advantage of it until recently," he says.

Even if this owner had not received the small variances for the footprint of his structure, Russell adds, "You wouldn't see much difference in the size of his house."

Meanwhile, there are some neighbors who defend the project. "There are houses up the street that are even taller," scoffs one.

But in suburbia, no man is an island. After building over the vistas of his neighbors, this enterprising newcomer will have a few fences to mend.

Charlie Clark lives in Arlington. His column appears on alternate Wednesdays. His e-mail address is cclarkjedd@aol.com.

Arlington Journal
20.06.2001
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