I had a bunch of questions about this story.

My first thought was about the complaints.

I can see a neighbor asking Craig, "What ya doing?"
"Putting up a room for the old lady, she's sick and need to be shut off from
air..."
"Hmmmmmm...."

So he goes home and tell his wife what good old Craig is up to.
"Seems like the neighbor has some kind of illness where she has to be cooped up, like in isolation!"

She mentions this at the bridge club - "The woman next door has some kind of illness-she has to be put into quarantine, her husband is building a room where she can't spread her germs!"

People start to take walks by the property to see this isolation room and start to wonder about exactly what this woman has and why! This freaks people out and they start to get scared-WE COULD CATCH THIS!!!!

They manage to find a way to present it to the township and get the
zoning ordinance people to enforce the rules.

(next time you see a story like this remember the key phrase-property value!
I know people invest tons of money into property but sometimes that is the excuse for lodging a complaint against the tenant/owners.)
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Yes, they should have not gone and added to the home without the proper permits, the doc was a kinda fruitcake that may be a little off his rocker, But
I think that the situation should have been given a little more scrutiny. Could that time given her a little relief from her problems-if they are true?

I do see both sides to this problem, but sometimes have to wonder about noisy neighbors that run the 'hood!