Feb 24, 2008 6:33 pm US/Central
Edina Looking To Curb McMansions
EDINA, Minn. (WCCO) ―
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The number of Edina homes torn down and rebuilt is rising every year, from 49 three years ago to 67 last year. (File)
CBS
This week the city of Edina will start taking on the problem of McMansions, the name given giant homes that replace much smaller ones after they're torn down.
Some property owners feel they shouldn't be limited, but many residents say the big houses are ruining neighborhoods.
"If you have all ramblers around here, what is the point of putting up a two-story colonial?" said Pat Holmes as she walked her dog in her neighborhood. "It's out of place. It doesn't belong."
Edina has almost 22,000 homes. The number torn down and rebuilt is rising every year, from 49 three years ago to 67 last year. Some seem to fit in with neighboring houses, while some do not.
Edina has hired a consultant to make a computerized presentation on Tuesday. It will depict how various sized houses will fit on existing lots.
Council members will be brainstorming about more restrictive zoning ordinances that would affect setbacks, building heights, and the ratio of lot size to house size.
For comparison, Minneapolis has a 50 percent ratio, called a floor-area ratio. A 10,000-square-foot lot can have a 5,000-square-foot home. Edina has no such regulation.
Any Edina ordinance would have to cover lots that can vary in size, width and depth in a single neighborhood.
"We can have two 60-foot lots that face each other," said City Planner Cary Teague. "But one lot may extend 300 feet, and the lot across the street may extend only 125 feet."
At a 50 percent ratio, one house could be almost three times larger than the one across the street.
The study session on Tuesday is closed. But the public will get a chance to be heard at planning commission and city council meetings in the future.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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