The swanky town of Southampton, New York, already has plenty of zoning laws to keep out the riff-raff. Eastern Long Island features virtually no land zoned for multifamily rental apartments, for example, and minimum lot sizes there are three acres. But Southampton residents are now fighting a zoning battle against someone even wealthier than they are, industrialist Ira Rennert, who wants to build a 42,000-square foot single-family home, reported to cost $100 million, on a 63-acre plot.

After residents protested their obscured ocean views, the town decided to place a 20,000-square foot limit on the size of all new houses. The New Yorker notes that the area's standard 10- to 14,000-square foot house already has about six or seven large bedrooms, each with adjoining bathrooms, a great hall, a formal living room, an informal living room, a dining room, a media room, a library, at least a 500-square foot kitchen, maid's quarters, a pantry, and perhaps a three- or four-car garage. "Some houses have a squash court, and I've built a few with bowling alleys," said Kurt Andreassen, a local contractor.

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