“Dear PoPville,
I am next door to a townhouse being renovated (at 1700 block of 16th Street, NW). Until yesterday the view out of my windows has been the roofs of the townhouses on my block as they are all shorter than my apartment building, but I came home yesterday and they are building a unit right outside of my window, adding height on in the rear of the townhouse.
They claimed this was legal because it does not block the sun from coming into my unit but I looked at the permits issued and although I am no expert on this stuff, it does not mention a height addition, and in fact specifies that the building will be 5 floors apparently including a basement (I am on 6, so should still be higher than the roof of this building). I have already emailed the DC Department of Buildings to get more information – can someone chime in on whether this is legal??”