Getting Sized Up in San Anselmo
I’m sure this hasn’t just happened in my town, but your town and/or someone else’s town, too. As California gets denser and denser in population and homes get bigger and bigger—just how big is too big?
In San Anselmo, the rule typically here meant that no more than 45% of your lot could be taken up by your home. A couple recently submitted a proposal that was way above this limit. Taking up 58% of their property, they wanted to build a 3,974 square foot home. As noted in the MarinIJ, now the town is pondering these limits and trying to devise some type of standard or guideliens to preserve the charm of San Anselmo but also allow for new families to buy small and add on later.
I must admit I was surprised by the 45% limit. Most homes in California to me seem to be big on house and small on property. I know so many homes where the kitchen window peers into your neighbors bathroom or vice versa. When is a house considered too big for its lot? Personally, I would take small house and big lot vs. big house and small lot. But that’s just me….
Interesting, most homes in San Anselmo do indeed meet that limit:
15 Florence Ave - 2 beds, 2 baths – $895,000: A 1900 SF house on a lot of 4,312SF… just making the cut off.
101 Woodside Dr – 3 beds, 2 baths – $899,000: At 1732 SF, this house is taking up just a less than 1/3 of its 7000+ SF lot.
10 Brookside Dr – 3 beds, 2.5 baths – $1,098,000: Taking up just a bit over a third of the land, this 2100+SF house sits on a 6000+SF lot.
