Council Proposes Remodeling Law

An ordinance to limit home remodelings that, essentially, create new homes was introduced by the City Council.

Community Development Director Robert Dawson said the ordinance is designed to prevent people from tearing down all of an old house, except one wall, then rebuilding it as a remodel, thus avoiding the city’s building regulations for new homes.

The proposal would define as “new” any home that has been intentionally demolished by more than 50%, or any addition that more than doubles a home’s size.

The council also introduced an ordinance that gives the owners of smaller lots the right to build larger, two-story homes--an attempt to make limits on home sizes more acceptable to landowners.

This ordinance, which applies only to two-story houses, allows owners of small lots to build homes with 2,500 square feet of living space, or houses with a living area equal to 35% of the lot size, whichever is larger.

Previously, people with lots measuring less than 7,200 square feet who wanted to build two-story homes were limited to the same 35% floor-area ratio as owners of larger lots.