Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Can I fight the county's determination that a proposed new home is consistent in scale and mass with the neighborhood? A parcel split was approved by the county with the conditions that is must be a single story home and that Design Review must ensure that the proposed scale and mass is consistent with the overall neighborhood character. Building plans that were just submitted show that the proposed home will be the largest single story home in the neighborhood, and it will be on the smallest lot in the neighborhood. The proposed home is at least 25% larger than the largest existing single story home and 75% larger than the average of all homes in the neighborhood, but Design Review is approving it anyway. How is "consistent" determined? The neighborhood is part of an NPA and has been against the parcel split since the beginning, and even submitted petitions against the project to the county. The subdivision review board that approved the split put the conditions of approval on the project as protection for the neighborhood and our privacy, or so we were told. Do we have any recourse?


Asked on 2/01/16, 9:06 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

This sounds like an abuse of discretion by Design Review, and something that could be contested with a reasonable probability of success. Note that administrative decisions like this are not usually appealable to court; the proper forum for review is probably the County Supervisors, so ask a local attorney with administrative law experience what the appellate forum is and the proper timing and procedure will be to obtain review. A court-issued injunction is also a possibility, if necessary. Finally, try to find out before spending a lot of money fighting this what the local history is of citizen success in getting such decisions overturned. Some communities are tougher that others.

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Answered on 2/01/16, 9:22 am


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