The "McMansion" has fallen on hard times recently, as property values fall, the economy stalls, and jumbo mortgages get scarce. But some coastal towns in New England and New York still see large homes as a potential threat to their communities, and they're looking at ways to stop super-size homes from being built. In the coastal Massachusetts town of Truro, reports the Cape Cod Times, "the Planning Board is considering a new zoning bylaw that sets specific, townwide limits on the size of new one- and two-family homes and renovations to existing homes." (" Truro sizes up problem of trophy houses", by Mary Ann Bragg). The proposal would limit new houses to no more than 4,000 square feet of living area. Depending on neighborhood characteristics, the limit could be lower. (Of Truro's 2,006 existing single-family homes, reports the Times, only 63, or about 3%, currently exceed the proposed 4,000-square-foot cap.) In Guilford, Connecticut, on the shore of the Long Island Sound, efforts to cap house size are proving controversial, the New York Times reports (" When Is a Big House Too Big?", by Lisa Prevost). Writes the Times: "Perplexed officials say they’re coming to the conclusion that while property owners typically like the idea of restricting the size of neighbors’ houses, they often balk when it comes down to adopting zoning changes that might limit their own options as well." Economic forces and fashion trends, however, may end up making the whole issue moot. As Avon, Conn., consultant Glenn Chalder told the Times: "living large may go the way of big hair — we just don’t know.”
