Before we all go blaming the rich and famous, let me just say that when we needed a variance, the town was more than willing to listen and were quite reasonable. We hoped to extend two rooms by four feet in the direction of our next door neighbor. That would have put us too close to the property line so we needed to get a variance. When presenting at the town meeting, the board of supervisors (I apologize, I am not up on the titles for NH, that is what we call them in PA) listened to our testimony and the testimony of our neighbors. (They were very supportive). During the meeting, one supervisor actually left to go and examine the project with his own eyes. When he got back, he determined that indeed we were only looking to make two rooms a little bigger, and that in the long run, by allowing the variance, they were probably encouraging us to remain in our very modest cabin and thus prevent a future mansion from being built. So it is not only the super rich and powerful that the towns listen to. I think overall, the towns are very fair and reasonable.
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