Owners of older homes in Montgomery County now face restrictions on renovating their properties, after county leaders voted Tuesday to limit the size of additions people can make to their houses.
Eight of nine Montgomery County Council members approved legislation Tuesday that they said was intended to curb homeowners’ ability to build hulking homes “out of character” with the rest of a community. The new policy addresses how much of a property can be covered by the house itself, and also restricts the height of some homes.
Roughly 119,000 county homes are subject to the new regulations, which apply to developments planned before 1978 with lots of less than 25,000 square feet.
People who own lots of less than 6,000 square feet, for example, can build on up to 30 percent of the property. Open porches, chimneys, bay windows and 240 square feet of a detached garage are excluded from the lot coverage formula.
Single-story properties are exempt from the regulations.
“The purpose of this is to allow a more graceful transformation of our neighborhoods — to ensure there isn’t a loss of privacy, a loss of
sunlight or a loss of value to the homes that sit next to these McMansions,” bill author and Council Vice President Roger Berliner said. “We can have very large homes, but not so large that they loom over their neighbors and deprive them of sunlight.”
Councilman Mike Knapp was the lone vote against the bill. Knapp acknowledged the issue is a problem in older parts of the county such as Chevy Chase and Bethesda, but said he worries the council has restricted the property rights of residents who don’t face similar problems in their neighborhoods.
He also said it is the wrong time for the county to place restrictions on building, given the economic downturn.
“We’ve got an entire industry laying off people in droves, the building industry, and this only makes it that much worse,” Knapp said. “We’re going exactly the opposite direction of providing help to people doing that kind of work.”
