Interestingly enough, I got a very different view of it from my friends at
our local Bldg Dept here in a particularly affluent corner of Joisey.  As
they see it, the Rehab Subcode has permitted overbuilding on suburban lots,
by means of  a one-time-only provision that lets you add more to the FAR (I th
ink; I should know, but am not certain)  of an existing building than you
could create if you built new on the same lot.  This has led to a huge
increase in the numbers of bldg permit applications (180 per month in our
City of 20,000 people), and is also causing drainage problems for neighbors
of these "overbuilt" properties, where there is suddenly no longer enough
exposed ground to soak up the rain, resulting in the creation of Lake Gelber
in my friends'  basement.

Not that this building boom hasn't been good for the architects (I could
spend 24 hours a day doing worthwhile stuff, instead of having fun wit' youse
guys), and that it hasn't made anybody rich who has enough upper body
strength to lift a hammer.  But we can still complain, can't we?

Ralph