Arcadia, Temple City Take Steps to Cut 'Monster Homes' Down to Size : Building: Complaints from citizens prompt action to limit the size of two-story homes in Arcadia to 35% of the lot size, down from 45%.

Arcadia, Temple City Take Steps to Cut ‘Monster Homes’ Down to Size : Building: Complaints from citizens prompt action to limit the size of two-story homes in Arcadia to 35% of the lot size, down from 45%.

By SIOK-HIAN TAY KELLEY

Feb. 8, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

ARCADIA-The City Council voted Tuesday to limit the size of two-story homes to 35% of the lot size, rather than the current 45%.

The move was in response to complaints about the increasing number of “monster homes” in Arcadia.

The council also accepted the recommendation of a committee of city officials, real estate agents, developers and representatives of homeowner associations to keep the existing maximum of 45% for single-story homes.

The committee said the 45% lot coverage ceiling is an incentive to encourage construction of single-level dwellings.

The council voted 4-0 to approve the lot coverage reduction for two-story homes. Councilman Charles Gilb was absent from the meeting. The council instructed the city attorney to prepare amendments to the city’s Zoning Code. If the amendments are presented in the form of an ordinance, the council will have to vote twice more on the matter. If they are packaged as a resolution, only one more vote is necessary.

The change softens an earlier proposal by the Planning Commission, which in November had approved dropping the 45% coverage maximum to a sliding scale of from 20% to 35%, depending on the size of a lot.

James Rostron, chairman of the Rancho Santa Anita Residents Assn. Architectural Review Board, preferred tougher standards than those approved by the council Tuesday. He cited an “overpowering” two-story home being planned for his neighborhood.

With the 35% limit, builders can still put up homes “darn near approaching the size of a small hotel,” he said.

Real estate agent and committee member Gordon Maddock countered that if neighborhoods want to curb the size of homes, “they should take it up with the people in their own area, not impose it on all of Arcadia.”

The council also instructed planning officials to study possible new requirements on the distance between houses and property lines. The officials also will look into the possibility of imposing regulations to encourage building toward the center of a lot, away from neighbors as much as possible.