Oversize homes wear out welcome in the West. Here kitty, kitty, kitty…

Fed-up communities limit square footage

Even Aspen, Colo., is tiring of mega-mansions.

The super-affluent ski resort town, where the average home sold for $3.1 million last year, is moving toward a ban on houses larger than 15,000 square feet.

That’s roughly a third of an acre, or a little more than a quarter the size of the White House.

“It’s a question of growth management,” says Cindy Houben, head of community development for Pitkin County, which includes Aspen. Supersize homes, she says, require supersize staffs — everyone from maids to pool cleaners — and the county has too little affordable housing and too much traffic.

“There’s no more land to put the housing on. There’s no more road space to put the cars on. … There has to be some limitation,” she says. Pitkin County commissioners gave preliminary approval to the new land-use code two weeks ago and should finalize it in April, says Commissioner Mike Owsley.

By Tom Kenworthy
USA TODAY

Full Story: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060221/1a_bottomstrip21.art.htm

***

Turf wars with mountain lions cause uproar

By William M. Welch, USA TODAY

After years of living on the edge of suburbia and wilderness, Bill Hill met one of his wild neighbors for the first time last month. Hill grabbed his handgun and fired.

Hill believed he was protecting his wife and young daughter when he shot at the young male mountain lion perched on a backyard wall. Perhaps he was expecting some gratitude, as the big cat was not far from an elementary school.

Instead, the former policeman, 52, has faced public criticism and could even be charged with a crime for shooting an animal that is protected by California law.

Full Story: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-02-20-lion-turf-war_x.htm