HUNTINGTON BEACH : Decision Is Expected on Height of House

After a monthlong delay, the City Council tonight is scheduled to decide whether a homeowner will have to remove the top 9 feet from his lavish, three-story house.

The council was scheduled last month to address what has been a seven-year fight over the height of Emad Ali Hassan’s home but postponed action on the issue at Hassan’s request.

The issue has gone before a state Court of Appeal and has divided city staff members and the Planning Commission, which has recommended the renovation.

With city approval, Hassan built his 39-foot-high home overlooking Huntington Harbour in 1985, although it exceeds the city’s 30-foot height limit. The council allowed the additional height by waiving its zoning code and applying instead the rarely used uniform building code.

Hassan’s neighbor, Charles Reince, protested, saying the three-story home partially blocks his ocean view, and he filed a lawsuit against the city.

Last year, a state Court of Appeal ruled in Reince’s favor. Hassan is now seeking a zoning code variance, which, if approved by the council, would allow the home to remain intact.

City staff members have recommended that the code variance be granted, but the Planning Commission on Nov. 5 rejected that request, effectively ordering Hassan to cut the top 9 feet from his house.

Whether the original approval was proper or not, Hassan has argued, the city granted him permission to build the home and now has no right to order him to remove the top story.