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.
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