Had enough?

On the heels of the JetBlue flight attendant who had finally had enough of rude uncooperative rule breakers we have this story from the Cape Cod Times today:

It seems that this couple from Germany decided to buy an antique home on Main Street in Chatham. The were going to renovate it, remove an ell that was not original to the house and build a widow's walk on the roof. They also wanted to move the house a few feet back on the lot so that they could put up a fence so that their children could play in the front yard of the house. Well, the busy-body neighbors in that town (most of whom don't even live here year-round) put up a big tsimmis about it and blocked the couple's renovations on the house.

From the Cape Cod Times:

The Foulkeses ran into the protective rules in 2007, not long after they bought the unheated house on 0.44 acres of land for $1.9 million. They sought a special permit to move the building six feet back from Main Street so that they could put up a fence and let their kids out to play in the yard without any worries. They wanted to add a dormer, widow's walk and roof deck and replace a nonhistoric ell to the rear.

They planned to preserve the historic exterior and interior but were denied by every town board, Riley said, which was disappointing. He quoted one appeals board member as saying, "If you want people to buy historic buildings and preserve them, you have to be able to work together."

Photo by Steve Heaslip from the Cape Cod Times

So what did the Foulkeses do about it? They gave the house a new paint job. Apparently there are no rules about exterior paint colors on Main Street in Chatham as there are in so many other historic neighborhoods in the country. I'll bet there soon will be. I say "Good for the Foulkeses". People are always too ready to stick their noses into everyone else's business these days. 

This will be interesting to watch unfold. I'll keep you informed.