Ranorak said:
What the hell is wrong with people when their biggest concern is what other people put on their driveway.
Seriously, don't you have bloody life of your own?
Blame the real estate market. The bottom line is that your property values are not just dictated by the condition of your property but the condition of other properties in the neighborhood. Appearances matter. What's more the higher the property values the wealthier the people who tend to buy the homes, and the more taxes for the town. Thus local governments tend to support neighborhoods in passing laws that limit what people can and cannot do on their own property. Disputes over decorations and props aren't all that rare. This is also how professional groundskeepers make their money oftentimes dividing areas up into "territories" since in some areas you might be legally obligated to have your grass mowed to a certain height, and keep any bushes, trees, or plants to a uniform configuration. It's also why through a lot of the country your actually legally required to pick up the poop when you walk your dog, even if the dog say poops on the sidewalk on in your own front yard.
The thing is that something like a TARDIS replica is large and noticeable and pretty much requires you to know Doctor Who to realize it's not an actual abandoned police box, or some kind of storage shed or whatever. What's more everyone pretty much has something they want to put in their yard but can't, so neighbors tend to police each other, not to mentin everyone being concerned about their property values.
Like it or not, you need to think in the long term. What happens to this thing in 5, 10, 15 years? Does it sit there and decay? Neightborhoods with these laws are trying to prevent long term degeneration of property values. We've all seen houses with say decaying swing sets in their front yard, maybe a rusted out car someone was going to fix, and the ground eroded into patches of grass, abandoned and decaying storage buildings the size of that Tardis are also an issue. It might not be fair but it effects everyone around, not just the property owner.
Now perhaps the laws should be re-written to prevent this kind of local regulation, putting possible long term effects ahead of the now, but as things stand now this isn't uncommon and applies through a lot of the country local government by local government which is why th Suburbs and such look so kempt and uniform (occasionally mocked "stepford wives" style for I as well). Rural and deep urban areas are less well regulated.
