SAN CLEMENTE : Home-Height Curbs Rejected by Planners

The San Clemente Planning Commission has voted to reject a proposal that would have placed restrictions on making single-story homes two or more stories.

The commissioners agreed in a 3-0 vote with one abstention that a proposed 25-foot height limit for all houses in San Clemente would be too difficult to enforce because of the city’s hilly terrain.

“Uniformity is impossible,” Commissioner Hal Joseph said. “You can’t write an ordinance to treat San Clemente as one universe. It is too different in topography and in the kinds of neighborhoods it has.”

The request to study the proposed law was generated by the City Council in response to complaints that the city has inconsistent methods of calculating home heights. The council will review the Planning Commission recommendation at its Dec. 20 meeting.

Several property owners complained that the proposed home-height ordinance would lower property values by limiting what could be built on a parcel. They also said that it would be unfair to those who owned hillside property, because a three-story home could be built on a slope but could rise only 25 feet above street level.

The commission urged residents of neighborhoods where one-story homes are preferred to place limits on second-story additions by using homeowners’ association regulations, or by using land-associated laws known as “covenants, codes and restrictions.”

City Atty. Jeff Goldfarb said that under existing laws, a group of residents could petition the council at any time to create a special zone that would prevent second-story additions in their neighborhoods.