Mansionization … What Does It Mean?

TALKBACK-As I read Shelly Wagers' recent article (CityWatch : A Fact Check on LA Mansionization ), I couldn't help but relive our neighborhood's zoning battle with Shelly, her cohorts, and Councilman Koretz. And what a battle it was. 

Shelly and her politically active minority partnered with Diana Plotkin of the Beverly Wilshire Homes Association and lobbied Councilman Pa ul Koretz to ignore the majority of property owners in our neighborhood and submit their “anti mansionization zoning overlay” to the planning department. And that is exactly what Koretz did. 

It didn't matter that we gave Paul Koretz signed statements from the majority of home owners stating categorically that they did not want the proposed zoning overlay. It didn't matter that Shelly couldn't produce signatures from 20% of the neighborhood in favor of the zoning overlay. All that mattered was that our Councilman was on board the “Shelly Train” to stop building homes she did not like. 

Of course, Koretz, being a sly politician, put out a survey to the neighborhood misrepresenting both the neighborhood and the proposed zoning overlay. When the dust settled, most of the neighborhood did not even respond to his survey. The majority of home owners already gave him signed statements against the proposed overlay. His entire survey didn't garner anything near that number of signatures. 

Nevertheless,  Koretz submitted Shelly's proposed zoning overlay to the planning department claiming he was acting on the will of the people of our neighborhood and the Planning Department gave Koretz what he wanted. Now we have been living with the Shelly zoning overlay ever since. 

The overlay works something like this: 

The maximum size home you can build in my neighborhood is “3000sf”, but that is an illusion, because you have to follow the “Shelly Rules”. 

If you want to build a modern attached garage home, the garage will count as “living space” reducing the maximum size of your home to 2600sf). 

If you have balconies … say 100 sf … again, they count as living space and must be deducted from maximum size. Now you are down to 2500sf. 

If you want a covered porch … or a vaulted entry way … or … or … or...

… you get the idea. These architectural elements and more will limit home size. You will be lucky if you can build a 2400sf home. 

And my guess is that Shelly is looking to change the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance to do the same thing city wide. 

At the end of the day, there is an argument to be made against over building and the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance was created to address that issue. Today, under that ordinance, you can build a 3600sf home on a 5000sf lot in the City of Los Angeles. 

If Shelly Wagers gets her way, I suspect the limit to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 2400sf or less. Oh, she will tell you she wants to allow you to build a 3000sf home, but read the fine print. If her proposed changes to the Mansionization Ordinance are anything like the changes she put into our neighborhood, then you can forget building a 3000sf home unless you give up covered porches, balconies, an attached garage … and more. 

What does Mansionization mean to me? 

It means a minority of self appointed arbiters of good taste can, with the help of your Councilman, use the political system to impose their will on the majority. 

What should Mansionization mean to YOU? 

I hope it means that you will scrutinize and verify everything that Shelly Wagers, her cohorts, and even your Councilman tell you before you lend your name and your support to their plan to severely limit the size of homes we can build across this great city of ours.

 

(Charles Tarlow  is a Los Angeles homeowner, has served on a neighborhood council board and can be reached at: [email protected]) 

-cw

 

 

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 59

Pub: Jul 21, 2015