Lots of Restriction

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Several years ago, the city of Los Angeles passed what is known as the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance. This law basically limited buildable area to 50 percent of the size of your residential lot. The ordinance also includes important provisions that allow for a 20 percent bonus of buildable area if certain criteria are met, including the use of specific setbacks, or constructing a home that meets certain environmental standards.

Over the past several months, the city has been working to further restrict buildable area on residential lots, including removal of the density bonus for areas where the neighborhood homes associations have requested it. This interim control ordinance was put into effect for a dozen neighborhoods including Carthay Square, Holmby Hills in Westwood, Larchmont Village and the Miracle Mile.

However, now Councilman Paul Koretz appears to be ready to introduce this same interim control ordinance to apply to most of the Westside. He is pushing this through behind closed doors in a very hush-hush manner. His proposal would remove the bonus density so that homeowners would only be able to build the usual 50 percent of the size of the lot in most circumstances. Since a typical lot in the Westside area is 6,600 square feet, it means construction would be limited to 3,300 square feet in many cases. This 3,300 square feet would need to include the mandatory 400 square feet of covered garage space. Therefore the total allowable livable square footage on a lot of this size would be 2,900 square feet. If you wanted to include a covered patio or outdoor space to your plans, then your livable square footage would have to be further reduced.

This ordinance would last for 18 to 24 months until the city figures out a new ordinance to take its place.

In essence, this ordinance would place a moratorium on all new construction for this period of time, unless you were able to find an extremely large lot, which would be very expensive. If you are limited to 2,600 or so square feet, would it make sense to tear down a 1,700- or 2,000-square-foot house? Obviously not, unless the land sold for cheap enough where it would make sense to do so. (One way this ordinance will lead to lower home values.)

Koretz is under the impression most people want limits on the size of new or remodeled homes because that is what is reported in newspapers, and what a few vocal residents are pushing. Unless he hears that other residents oppose such restrictions, he will be able to push this through the City Council.

What Koretz doesn’t understand is that there has been no reason for any of the residents who are in favor of construction to speak up, because until now these residents have been able to build on their current homes or purchase other homes that have been built in the area. Why would he hear from them? Most people who are in favor of leaving the ordinance alone are working families with busy lives who don’t have the time to picket and go to community meetings on a monthly basis.

What’s more, the councilman has not allowed for any public debate to see if there is an issue and if there is one, how to solve it.

Other points:

  • Much of the Westside has been built in the 1920s through the ’40s and most of the homes built then do not conform with the needs of current-day families. Families with more than two kids cannot squeeze into a two- or three-bedroom home that’s less than 2,000 square feet.
  • The existing mansionization ordinance already allows a neighborhood on its own to lower the building area allowed in that neighborhood.
  • This type of sweeping change will have a direct and negative impact on property values resulting in less revenue for the city. Reduced property values mean less property taxes. No new construction means reduced permits being pulled. This directly affects school budgets. A major percentage of permit fees go toward funding the public schools in the neighborhood where the construction is taking place. By the way, a typical permit fee for a new 4,000-square-foot home is approximately $25,000. A remodel from a 2,000-square-foot home to a 2,800-square-foot one would only be a few thousand dollars.

Mr. Koretz, how can you make such an influential and critical decision that will affect millions of people without giving the people of your own district the right or ability to be heard on this matter?

Meir Kroll is a residential real estate agent for the Agency in Beverly Hills.

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