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McMansions are predominantly an issue in built-out cities or rural communities where residents hope to preserve a bucolic character, experts say. Traditionally, home size has been regulated by zoning laws that require structures to be set back a certain distance from the property line and permit building only within a "footprint." But, as land prices rise and the desire for bigger houses grows, new housing is increasingly "bigfooting" lots and consuming airspace, leading to the national rush to set limits.

The restrictions come at the tail end of the largest residential building boom in U.S. history. From 2000 to 2005, record numbers of single-family homes were constructed, often in place of older, more modest structures. That unprecedented explosion in homes "has produced so much change on the landscape that this is really a counter-response to it," said James Hughes, dean of the planning school at Rutgers University. (LINK)

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