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jg_bigboypants t1_jaaun23 wrote

Sad thing is... Other than the carpet, this place wasn't that bad! Sold for < $250K not even a year ago.

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Baltimore/1212-Union-Ave-21211/home/10861358

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JKSHulenburg t1_jabboxp wrote

They bought it for the land. But look at the house next to it. There must be a zoning ordinance for a setback on the lot and they left the wall to circumvent permitting for a new building and not have to follow the zoning and save 10'

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jg_bigboypants t1_jabcctm wrote

That house next to it was just build two years ago. Yeah. They might have had to keep the facade to keep the property line. My mom died and I inherited her place and it's the same kind of situation. The pool deck and lanai are too close to the property line for today's standards. I can't redo it without shrinking it if I wanted to be to code.

Also... this place in MD also came with two additional lots for the money! How about that?!!?

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Aberdolf-Linkler t1_jad3fm7 wrote

Those setback requirements are super important! Imagine all the quality time a family will spend in that crappy 10 foot front yard next to the street!

I really do wonder why those setback requirements are still in place. They seem completely pointless.

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JKSHulenburg t1_jad4i0e wrote

There's a number of reasons to have setback requirements. Keeping the character of a neighborhood, providing space for easements for utilities, fire considerations (spacing buildings) ect

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Aberdolf-Linkler t1_jad6hla wrote

Yes those are some of the reasons given but they don't really stand up to any scrutiny. For example this building predates the standard so they aren't really keeping any character, just enforcing a new one. Not to mention that's entirely a subjective quality that's being determined by a small group of officials.

Utilities some how manage on significantly smaller easements just fine all over the US and the world. And fire fighting has come a long way in the past 2000 years. There's a ton of detail on this one that's a bit beyond a reddit comment but this is really unnecessary today. At worst you can mandate firebreaks in lue of offset but for some reason municipalities across the US just use this blanket ban instead, despite virtually every single one having at least one district that manages to get by without these mandates.

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