SAN CLEMENTE : Height Plan to Get Further Hearing

The City Council on Wednesday voted to continue until Jan. 17 a public hearing on a proposed law that would restrict home heights to preserve views.

As proposed, the law would create a 25-foot height restriction in neighborhoods in which residents have requested it.

“It’s patently unfair,” Lee Riley, who recently bought property in San Clemente, told the council Wednesday night. “You can’t go and change the rules now that we’ve bought the property.” Riley was one of a few people to speak about the matter before the council voted to continue the hearing.

Residents in ocean-view neighborhoods complained to the council in May that new construction was obstructing their views of the water and reducing their property values. At the time, the council voted down a proposed emergency moratorium on new building.

Last month, the Planning Commission unanimously recommended that the council reject the proposed zoning plan, saying the city should not regulate the issue of views from private property. The commissioners urged that height questions be solved through homeowners’ association regulations.