SEAL BEACH : New ‘Doghouses’ to Be Things of the Past

They’ve been called pimples, bumps, atrocities and doghouses, but whatever their name, covered roof-access structures caused a stir in the Seal Beach City Council chambers this week.

A doghouse, as it applies to residences in Seal Beach, is a structure that encloses the top of an interior staircase that leads to an exterior rooftop deck. At issue Tuesday was whether to allow James Mastick to build such a structure on his Ocean Avenue home. The primary opposition was from Michael Olson, a neighbor who does not want his panoramic view blocked.

Councilwoman Marilyn Bruce Hastings pointed out that Olson would not have such a marvelous view if he didn’t have a “doghouse” himself.

“I admit that at first, the issue is a real puzzler,” Olson said. “Why should I have one and why shouldn’t he? But the stronger issue is the view.”

Whether such a structure “significantly impairs the primary view” from properties within 300 feet of each other is one of the criteria city officials must consider before granting approval.

Olson said that Mastick’s doghouse would block between 5% and 7% of his view, which stretches from the Seal Beach Pier to the Naval Weapons Station. If others in the area also build doghouses, his view will be further impaired, he said.

In the end, the council voted 4 to 1 to allow the structure but instructed its staff to prepare the wording for a moratorium on future construction of doghouses.

Councilwoman Gwen Forsythe dissented with the majority, saying the proliferation of doghouses in Old Town has gotten to a point where people’s views are affected.

Mastick had received city approval for his doghouse in 1988 but said he was unable to do the work then. When he finally sought a building permit, he learned that the rules had changed. The decision landed in the council’s lap this week after Olson appealed the Planning Commission’s approval of the structure.

Residents and council members said that the doghouses were once a novelty but have become quite commonplace now.

Although the council could not vote on establishing a moratorium because the matter was not on the agenda, members seemed to favor it.

“I think we should settle this issue once and for all,” said Mayor Frank Laszlo.

Regulations concerning the structures were revamped a little more than a year ago after a moratorium prompted by another controversial, covered roof-access structure.

That controversy started when neighbors in the Hill area complained after a couple built a 31-foot-high metal dome atop their home. Represented as a doghouse to the Planning Commission, it rotates with a skylight that slides open, all atop a tower-like brick column.

Under the city code, doghouses are supposed to be non-habitable spaces that exceed the city’s standard 25-foot height limit by no more than seven feet. Before they can be built, the Planning Commission must determine that they meet various requirements.