MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — A proposal to replace a nearly 80-year-old Manhattan Beach home returns to the Planning Commission Wednesday after residents pushed back against allowing the new house closer to the street than normally permitted.
Commissioners will consider a variance for 620 25th St. during a 3 p.m. meeting. The property normally requires a 20-foot front setback, but revised plans would place the proposed three-car garage and part of the basement 10 feet from the property line, with the remainder of the house set back 15 feet.
The project calls for demolishing a 912-square-foot, one-story home built in 1947 and constructing a new two-story single-family residence with a basement and attached three-car garage. The proposed home would have approximately 2,735 square feet of buildable floor area.
City planning staff recommends approving the variance, saying the property's unusual shape creates development constraints not faced by most neighboring lots.
The approximately 4,683-square-foot property is trapezoidal and considerably shallower than typical lots nearby, according to a city staff report. Once required setbacks are applied, staff calculated that only about 32.6% of the lot forms a buildable envelope, compared with at least 56% for typical properties in the area.
The application first came before commissioners May 13, when the applicant sought a 10-foot setback for the entire structure and proposed about 3,134 square feet of buildable floor area.
Although staff recommended approval at that time, commissioners raised concerns that the reduced setback could adversely affect neighborhood character. They unanimously continued the hearing and asked the applicant to revise the design with a greater front setback.
The applicant submitted revised plans in July, moving most of the house back to 15 feet and reducing its buildable floor area by roughly 400 square feet. Nearby residents have nevertheless raised concerns about the project.
Owners of the neighboring home at 612 25th St. told commissioners in May that reducing the setback could affect light, air and privacy and argued that the size and mass of the proposed home would be inconsistent with the Tree Section. They warned against what they described as the "canyonization" seen elsewhere in Manhattan Beach.
Opposition has continued ahead of Wednesday's hearing. In an Aug. 18 public comment, another longtime Manhattan Beach resident argued that granting setback variances could make it harder for the city to reject similar requests in the future and gradually turn neighborhoods into an "urban canyon." He urged commissioners to reject the application.
City staff, however, noted that every home on the south side of 25th Street between Blanche Road and 23rd Street already has a front setback that does not conform to the current 20-foot requirement. Nearby setbacks range from zero to 15 feet, according to the report.
Staff also pointed to other unusually shaped lots nearby that received setback reductions in previous decades, while stressing that variance applications are considered individually and do not establish precedent.
The Planning Commission is scheduled to meet at 3 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 1400 Highland Ave.
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