Thank you to all who wrote letters and placed calls to our City Councilmembers.


On May 6th the City Council heard final comments on the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance. There were many speakers: almost everyone who spoke for the ordinance was a homeowner; and, conversely, almost everyone who spoke against it were either developers or real estate professionals. The City Council then voted, passing the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance 12-0. We are hopeful that it will get to the Mayor and be signed into law in the near future.

The ordinance was originally proposed by Councilperson LaBonge. Wendy Gruel was also actively involved in its development. Councilperson Reyes, Chair of PLUM, was also a key player in getting the ordinance through the City Council and approved. Unfortunately, our own councilperson, Jack Weiss, left the Council chambers before the vote and didn't vote.


A helpful article about what to do if a McMansion is going up next door is below

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Your Neighbor's Building a 'McMansion': What McNow?
by John Morell
Tuesday, April 15, 2008provided by
It's a supersize worry: The McMansion down the street from your home will ruin the value of your property.

If you live in an upscale neighborhood and there's an empty lot nearby, trouble could be coming your way. With real-estate prices sliding, how long before a developer with cash to spend picks up that space for a bargain and builds a three-story McMansion, dwarfing neighboring homes and shading the rest of the street?
The McMansion invasion has overtaken cities around the U.S. What exactly is a McMansion, you might ask? There's no hard definition, but most people know them when they see them. They often start with the tear-down of a smaller, older home situated on a good-size lot in a nice neighborhood.
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The developer then draws up plans to build out the new house so that its footprint extends to virtually each property line and it rises as high as the local building code will allow.
With a McMansion you may get more bedrooms and bathrooms than you can count on two hands, but you're also stuck with a back yard big enough for a barbecue grill and a little patch of grass and the eternal hostility of your neighbors.
A U.S. Census Bureau survey from 2003, the most recent one completed on housing, showed that almost 3.2 million homes had over 4,000 square feet of floor space, which was up 11% from a similar survey in 2001. As the real-estate boom continued a few years later, it's expected that this number climbed as well.
Unless you're developing or buying a McMansion, you're probably no fan of them. Neighbors grouse about "the monstrosity" being built up the street, and if it's big enough to ruin the views of someone else's home, get ready for fireworks. If someone blocks your view of the lake/bay/ocean/mountains, your property value sinks.
"We're seeing this phenomenon in Kahala, where builders are putting homes right up to the lot lines," said Paul Mayer, a Realtor with Elite Pacific Properties in Honolulu. "It creates some buzz and anger when you take up someone else's view, but the local government is not taking a hard line on the issue. It's pretty much live and let live here."
Not so in other locales. Boulder, Colo., is trying to push an ordinance through its city council banning homes larger than 4,000 square feet. Austin, Texas, has taken up perhaps the most restrictive regulations against the trend by banning any new home over 2,300 square feet or 40% its lot size. After four hours of public comments from people for and against it, the city council decided to stop the neighborhood supersizing.
Besides taking up everyone's views and not fitting in with the style of the area's architecture, there's another knock on McMansions -- their energy use. Heating and electricity costs for a home twice the size of your previous one can quickly sap any discretionary income you have left after the mortgage. And some believe that over the next few decades, many McMansions will be knocked down and replaced by smaller dwellings.
The reason? As the population ages, fewer people will be interested in the biggest home on the block. They'll have raised their children already and they'll be looking for an easier-to-maintain home without tons of empty rooms.
However, that doesn't help you now as you and your neighbors battle against a proposed monstrosity on your street. Some tips if you see things turning that way include:
. Get the neighbors together and in the loop about the construction down the street. Even if they're not directly affected by the McMansion there, it could affect a lot near them next month.
. Check with your municipal building department to find out the exact plans for the site. Don't trust the demolition or construction workers who may not have up-to-date information.
. Be suspicious if you see that the builder has asked the local planning department for a variance to increase the home's height or expand its footprint. Variance hearings usually allow for public comment, which is why it's important to get the neighborhood together to attend or write the department.
. As soon as possible, talk to the owner. Express the neighborhood's concerns and see if an agreement can be worked out before too much work has been completed.
. If the owner won't budge and the proposed structure is serious enough to harm your views or property, it's attorney-client time. A meeting with a real-estate lawyer can give you a realistic assessment of whether it's worth fighting the owner in court.

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