Getting the house in order

June Casagrande

At times, architects have designed homes knowing that they are bigger

than the city normally allows, banking on the city’s Modifications

Committee to make an exception to city rules. At times, the gamble

pays off, resulting in homes larger than their lots would normally

allow and outraged cries from residents opposed to “mansionization.”

All that could end soon.

The City Council will hold a study session Tuesday on whether to

clip the wings of the Modification Committee and to limit liberties

of homebuilders.

“The way our modification process is set up right now gives some

leeway,” City Manager Homer Bludau said. “Staff has a lot of

flexibility on that, and the council may want to tighten that up.

Mansionization is an increasingly emotional issue in the city,

pitting one group of property owners against another. Some residents

of quaint, older communities such as Corona del Mar don’t think that

people should be allowed to change the character of their

neighborhoods area by building huge, looming houses. Others think

they should be allowed to build their dream homes on their own

property.

The issue has become so divisive that city staff have scrapped the

term “mansionization” for the less partisan “the size of houses

issue.”

The matter increasingly comes up in the General Plan update

process, City Council meetings and Environmental Quality Affairs

Committee meetings. And it’s likely that “mansionization” will factor

into Tuesday’s discussion.

“I think it is a concern here,” Bludau said. “I think that issue

will come up.”

The Modifications Committee is made up of staff members from the

city’s planning, building and public works departments. Their job is

to consider, on a case-by-case basis, minor deviations to city

standards for things like setbacks, building heights and footprints.

Larger deviations require variances, which come through a more formal

and stringent process.

One of the strategies City Council members may consider is

rewriting the standards in a way that would redefine some

modifications as variances.