Arcadia : House Sizes Limited

The City Council last week approved a Planning Commission recommendation to limit the square footage of all buildings in a single-family lot to 40% of the lot area.

The limit, which excludes balconies, patios and gazebos, follows an April revision of residential height regulations. The ordinance reduced the maximum building height for homes from 35 feet to 30 feet.

The Planning Department began studying building codes last November.

“We were getting very big homes on lots” that were too small, senior planner Donna Butler said of the trend that began about three years ago. “It appeals to the marketplace, but there comes a point when the home becomes out of proportion to the lot size itself.”