Builder Wins Approval to Reduce Size of Houses

A second developer has won City Council approval to rjwgl educe the size of houses it is building in the pricey Rancho San Rafael hillside subdivision.

Developer Kaufman and Broad of Woodland Hills said it will build a more marketable product by trimming an average of 707 square feet off 88 paired townhouses and one single-family home in an incomplete subdivision the company will purchase this week from another developer, Calprop. A representative of Kaufman told the Council Tuesday that the company would have no interest in taking over the project if it had to build the houses as originally planned.

The paired townhouses will share a common garage wall between two units and range in size from 1,479 square feet to 1,830 square feet. Mark Beisswanger, division president of Kaufman and Broad, said the houses will be priced in the $300,000 range, which he said is “more obtainable” for young families.

The first 18 units built by Calprop, which are larger and cost at least $100,000 more, have been slow to sell, officials said. Several residents of the Rancho development argued Tuesday that permitting construction of smaller homes will devalue their property.

However, city officials said most real estate has lost value in the recession. “The real issue is the quality of what will be done and not the size” of homes to be built, Councilman Dick Jutras said.

The council in October granted permission to Polygon Communities of Irvine, master builder of the 588-unit Rancho subdivision, to build smaller houses on another 77 lots in the final phase of the development. The Polygon homes will still be fairly large, ranging from 2,700 to 3,200 square feet and are priced in the $500,000 range.

Developers said they expect the entire 316-acre subdivision, originally approved in 1986, to be completed by June, 1996.