HUNTINGTON BEACH : Third-Story Add-Ons Face New Restrictions
The City Council has adopted tougher requirements for allowing third-story additions to existing houses in Huntington Harbour.
By unanimous vote, the council last week passed a building code amendment that sets more restrictive standards for third-story additions in the harbor area. The council targeted that area because of several recent controversies involving Huntington Harbour homeowners who sought to add a third story.
From now on, any new third-story addition in the harbor area cannot have a roof volume greater than that of the existing second story.
“By confining third floor areas to within the second story roof volumes, they will appear no different than normal two-story homes,†said Mike Adams, the city’s director of community development.
Another change involved what Adams called a “simpler and more understandable†method of determining height limitations. The new code change clarifies where the highest point of a building is to be measured.
The recommendations for the building code changes came from a special committee appointed by the City Council. The committee was formed in the wake of several bitter disputes within Huntington Harbour about third-story additions.
Adams said the tougher standards for third-story additions may later be considered for other parts of the city.
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