Looks like July’s proposals to place restrictions on McMansions — a housetype cropping up all over the city, in case you haven’t noticed — have gone through, according to the Central District News. While the mandates will only apply to new construction on single-family lots less than 3,000 square feet, they will nonetheless help keep builders in line and neighborhoods (somewhat) intact. The legislation sets forth a few guidelines for those who’ve been razing old buildings and erecting behemoths in their spots:
- New construction forumlae to limit the amount of space a new building can cover
- Removal of the provision that allows house height to be based on the structure next door, so long as said structure tops 30 feet, as well as a reevaluation of house height for homes located on sloped sites (of which Seattle’s certainly got the lion’s share)
- Parking requirement waivers, plus limits on the location and visibility of street-facing garages
That’s the gist. Over at the CD News, commenters are both sated and skeptical. Take a look:
It’s about expletive deleted time. Smart developers will use that square footage for better things, and we can have a lot better design at the street level than what we’re getting with all that garagieness.
and
So if you live next to a couple of houses that are 30 plus feet, and you want to tear down your 1960′s duplex or bungalow, when you rebuild, you still have to live in the shadow of the taller houses? They have views and you don’t? That kind of sucks….Have to see the details on this one, but “limiting the location and visibility of garage doors that face the street?!” A garage door that faces somewhere other than “out?” C’mon — won’t a curved drive or the jockying that you’ll have to do for a garage that doesn’t face out mean you’re going to burn more lot square footage on driveway space thereby increasing runoff?
What’s your take? To invoke the language of the current presidential race: Too much regulation? Not enough?