'Monster' home debate heats up in Calgary's Briar Hill

Briar Hillin Calgary's northwestis one of many neighbourhoods undergoing big changes as large houses, otherwise known as "monster" homes,replace bungalows.

Andsome people in the community say it's not a change for the better.

• Listen to the Danielle Nerman's piece on the Calgary Eyeopener by clickingthe "Listen" button above.
• 'Monster' homes debate surfaces in Winnipeg

A 6,500-square-foot home is under construction next to where Helen Beach lives, and another big house is planned to go up behind her.

"It's just ostentatious and overkill," she said.

The people building the home next door did make some concessions on the design, but Beach says it will ruin her privacy and expects there willbe issues with the amount of light pouring out her neighbour's windows at night.

"So I used to have a little piece of paradise with the forest in the backyard, and now the neighbours say, 'Well, you look into a concrete wall.'" she said.

Realtor Lucas Ramage says itis a conversation that has been going on all over the city.

He admits a big new house can be challenging for a neighbour, but hasbenefits.

"It's sort of this double-edged sword, you get the benefit of these big beautiful new homes coming into communities and we can, in some respects, be grateful that that's what's driving the value of the areas," he said.

Ramage also says those bigexpensive houses could be problematic for the owners down the road because they can be very hard to resell.