The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved May 6 a long-debated “anti-mansionization” ordinance. The Baseline Mansionization Ordinance restricts the square footage of new and remodeled single-family houses based on a formula that relates the size of the home to the size of the lot on which it sits. The measure is a response to so-called “McMansions,” huge homes that fill standard-size residential parcels from lot-line to lot-line. Most of the residential area in the Valley is zoned for lot sizes of about 5,000 square feet. Under the new standards, construction would be limited to 50 percent of an R-1 zoned lot, or 2,500 square feet; presently a home of up to 11,000 square feet on the same size lot is permissible. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has two weeks to sign the ordinance into law and then there is another 30-day window for legal challenges before the measure goes into effect.
