HUNTINGTON BEACH : Third-Story Add-Ons Face New Restrictions

The City Council has adopted tougher requirements for allowing third-story additions to existing houses in Huntington Harbour.

By unanimous vote, the council last week passed a building code amendment that sets more restrictive standards for third-story additions in the harbor area. The council targeted that area because of several recent controversies involving Huntington Harbour homeowners who sought to add a third story.

From now on, any new third-story addition in the harbor area cannot have a roof volume greater than that of the existing second story.

“By confining third floor areas to within the second story roof volumes, they will appear no different than normal two-story homes,” said Mike Adams, the city’s director of community development.

Another change involved what Adams called a “simpler and more understandable” method of determining height limitations. The new code change clarifies where the highest point of a building is to be measured.

The recommendations for the building code changes came from a special committee appointed by the City Council. The committee was formed in the wake of several bitter disputes within Huntington Harbour about third-story additions.

Adams said the tougher standards for third-story additions may later be considered for other parts of the city.