San Carlos Community Meeting on Single-Family Home Sizes – May 2.

Mark Your Calendar.

If you are in the process of remodeling your home or are thinking about doing so, this is a meeting that you should probably plan on attending.  The City of San Carlos will update the general public about proposed changes to City regulations that could affect the size, bulk, and massing of new construction and additions to single-family homes.

For those of you who are new to San Carlos, this topic has become a lightning rod of sorts, pitting residents against their own neighbors who wish to remodel and/or increase the size of their homes.  As much of the original housing stock in San Carlos approaches 70-80 years of age, many of these older homes are in dire need of a refresh.  But the chronic shortage of housing inventory in San Carlos has made it very difficult for home owners to find a home that is either more modern or larger than the home that they are living in, so this has forced them to stay put and remodel their existing home.  This factor, combined with a strong economy and booming stock market, has created a remodeling boom unlike anything we have ever seen in San Carlos.

Back in 2011, in an effort to help stimulate home development, San Carlos relaxed some of its regulations on residential construction.  This allowed for a higher percentage of lot coverage, particularly on the smaller sized lots in the flats. It also enabled some of the larger lots to be subdivided, enabling two homes to be built where one once stood.  At that time, it wasn't much of a concern to local residents because the economy was just emerging from a crippling recession, and not many homeowners could afford a significant remodel of their home.  But as homeowners felt more confident in their jobs and their equity holdings increased exponentially in value, they became financially empowered to truly push the limits of the new regulations, and much larger homes began springing up all over town.

Suffice it to say that not all residents of San Carlos were thrilled to have a 3,000 square foot 2-story home looming over them where a small bungalow once stood.  So the City of San Carlos is now responding to feedback from the public which suggests that they need to tighten regulations on new construction once again.  I anticipate that many of the pre-2011 standards will be re-instated in the near future, with additional restrictions put on subdivisions of vacant land.

If You Go…

Here are the details of the meeting:

• What:  San Carlos community update on residential building regulations.
• When:  Wednesday, May 2 at 6:30 PM.
• Where:  San Carlos Library, Second Floor (610 Elm Street, San Carlos)

It should be a very interesting meeting, and I look forward to seeing you there!