Yesterday Sheepshead Bites reported on a Manhattan Beach property owner’s proposal to turn a 2,599-square-foot rectory into a 7,848-square-foot McMansion, a plan that was approved by the Community Board but which some in the neighborhood are against. The rectory, at 215 Exeter Street, was built in 1920 and sold off a couple of years ago by the church that used to own it. The new owner is seeking a zoning variance because the law only allows him to build out to 4,000 square feet in the spot. While the community board voted 26 to 5 to approve the plan, it’s opposed by the Manhattan Beach Community Group, and the Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association president also spoke out the enlargement. The Manhattan Beach Community Group says the case being made for the giant house rests on incorrect data that was used to approve another super-sizing last year: “the evidence of similar sized structures (based on a Floor-Area-Ratio – or FAR – calculation) was based on faulty city data. The group cited an email a Department of City Planning official confirming that the data was inaccurate.” Meanwhile, Alan Ditchek, the president of the Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association said the McMansion would be out of character: “Knowing the house as it is now, a former rectory, knowing the other houses on the block, if it was enlarged it wouldn’t conform with the other houses as they appear. …The zoning is being changed, without it being changed. People are building bigger houses than are permitted without our zoning being changed.” It sounds like the proposal still needs the blessing of the Board of Standards and Appeals before it can move forward.
92-Year-Old Manhattan Beach Rectory To Become McMansion [Sheepshead Bites] GMAP
Image from Sheepshead Bites


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

    1 2