Despite reports of their demise, giant, neighborhood-busting McMansions in Los Angeles appear to be alive and well. Although they were passed six years ago, it looks like Los Angeles’ Mansionization rules, according to the LA Times, “haven’t stopped neighborhoods from being overwhelmed by out-of-scale homes.”
The rules contain lots of loopholes for builders, including provisions holding that they can increase new home sizes by up to 30 percent if they meet environmental and other requirements. Also home-expanding elements like covered parking areas can be largely excluded from city calculations. City councilman Paul Koretz recently proposed revising the rules to eliminate “counterproductive provisions,” but local leaders say little has happened since. The exceptions, meanwhile, “effectively gutted the ordinance that was supposed to stop mansionization,” former city planner Dick Platkin told the Times.
Under a new plan presented this week, the city could impose temporary restrictions to limit tear downs in a few neighborhoods, but Deputy Director of Planning Alan Bell told the Times that it would take a year and a half to officially revamp the rules citywide.
