Palos Verdes Estates Acts to Limit Size of New Houses

To deal with a trend toward building so-called “oversized houses,” the Palos Verdes Estates City Council on Tuesday approved a zoning regulation that would tie the floor area of homes to the size of the lot.

Critics of the larger houses--often those built to replace smaller, older homes that were razed--say the bigger houses block views, shut out light and are incompatible with their neighborhoods.

The ordinance limits the floor area of the living space and garage of new or remodeled houses to 30% of the lot area, plus 1,750 square feet.

The council also enacted an urgency ordinance effective immediately to prevent new projects from being pushed through before the permanent regulations take effect.

The urgency measure does not apply to projects with an approved grading application or with building plans already submitted.

Council members asked the Planning Commission to review a companion measure that would create a city process to determine whether new or remodeled homes are compatible with their neighborhoods and preserve neighbors’ privacy and views. The council majority supports the revised neighborhood compatibility ordinance and predicted it will be adopted at a council meeting following commission review.

The council did not like a previous version of the review measure, which was submitted by the Planning Commission, saying it was too subjective. The council called the later draft “superior” because it sets forth objective criteria on which a neighborhood compatibility review can be based. The revised ordinance, for instance, requires review of the plans of any new or remodeled structure exceeding 12,000 square feet.

Mayor James Kinney said the revised ordinance takes the onus off building officials to judge what plans should be reviewed for neighborhood compatibility.

“I think we’re badly in need of this ordinance to take care of our city in the future,” Councilman Edward Ritscher said.