By Jamie Duffy

Or you were living in a neighborhood and going quietly about your life until you got a letter in the certified mail informing you that one of your neighbors was planning on building on a side lot, or tearing down an existing home to put up two homes.

The news definitely wasn’t what you were expecting and you’re upset. So who do you turn to? The mayor, other neighbors, a planning board member you just happen to know? You probably don’t know the first thing about public hearings, testimony, planners, traffic experts and attorneys trained in the fine art of variances, waivers, side yard setbacks and impervious coverage rules.

Until a few months ago, you were on your own in Madison. Now there is Madison Matters, a group of land use activists and their behind-the-scenes workers who can help you through the morass of zoning codes and protocol. Born last year out of an application in which a well-established local builder proposed to tear down a historically listed century-old home to build two "McMansions" across from the Giralda Farms office headquarters complex, the group has gained momentum and attends planning board and zoning board meetings as regularly as other people go to the theater.

The organization is just a few months old but president Christine Hepburn is getting calls weekly from bewildered locals looking for advice, and people from other municipalities looking to form similar groups. The goal is to monitor planning and zoning boards to enforce local zoning laws within reason, influence changes in land use laws, and keep residential neighborhoods from getting overcrowded.

The crusade started when businessman and new Madison resident J.P. Altier got his letter in the mail in the fall of 1999 informing him of a local builder’s plan to tear down a large Victorian-era mansion on the adjacent property, subdivide the tract and build two houses. Variances and waivers were necessary, but the idea of another house so close to his disturbed him the most.

Mr. Altier and his wife, Alice Wade, decided to try to rally the town behind him and sent out a mailing to all residents who lived in the same zoning designation. Ms. Hepburn, his neighbor across the street, was cheered by their efforts and hired her own attorney and planner to counteract the expensive talent the builder was able to hire.

Even though the board denied the application to build the proposed house by a 5-4 vote, the house came down. With the sound of the wrecking ball in their ears, the Altier-Wades and Ms. Hepburn organized Madison Matters last summer.

In the seven months that Madison matters has existed, Ms. Hepburn has found herself fielding phone calls from as far away as New Hampshire. She canvasses other nearby communities and is a regular fixture up at the Hartley Dodge Memorial Building, where she pays to copy public information and meeting transcripts. At least one local attorney, not wishing to comment, has been moved to write a letter criticizing her activities so her work must be rankling at the least, and effective at the most.

When she shows up at meetings, she is prepared. Never once does she approach the microphone without a two-inch-thick file and it is the rare occasion when she backs off.

"Chris is just fantastic," said Judith Kroll, another Madison Matters member. "She is fearless. She’s not afraid to go talk to people, not afraid to stand up and speak her mind at meetings. Her opinions are well-grounded in zoning regulations and ordinances. She has looked at the zoning ordinances and she speaks to those from the perspective of her understanding of those, as opposed to speaking from a point of view simply ‘this is too large’ or ‘this is inappropriate.’"