Is building up on its way out?

The City Council delayed on Tuesday making a final decision on whether to strip the Design Review Board of a bargaining chip that can help resolve neighborhood opposition to a development project.

Proposed amendments to the city code would eliminate the board’s option of allowing more lot coverage for structures in exchange for a lower building profile that makes neighbors happy and replace it with a variance procedure.

The amendments were approved 3-2 on Jan. 31, and were up Tuesday for a second reading. In the meantime, opposition has hardened among local architects and others who think it would have the effect of encouraging taller homes.

“I have been thinking a lot about this, and I think we would be encouraging two-story houses,” Councilwoman Elizabeth Schneider said Tuesday at the second reading of the proposed amendments.

Projects that have come before the council with the entire lot covered by structures or concrete prompted the council to consider the code revision. They question whether lot coverage, traditionally limited to habitable space, should include patios, driveways and other impermeable surfaces.

Mayor Toni Iseman, who favors the amendments, said the changes might encourage smaller homes, not taller ones.

Under the proposed amendments to the general and local coastal plans and the ordinance, a variance would be required to exceed the allowable lot coverage. Variances, which cost $10,000, legally require specific findings to justify non-conformance with the code and are not acceptable to the city as a design solution.

Schneider recommended further review before enacting the amendments, seconded by Lance Polster, speaking on behalf of the local Architects Guild.

“More review would be beneficial,” Polster said. “Architects think this is a bad idea. It will encourage two-story houses, not smaller houses.

“At the least, consult with the Design Review Board and the architects.”

Council members heeded his words. They unanimously voted to put the amendments on the agenda of a joint meeting with Design Board members, set for March 24, before taking away the bargaining chip.

The first reading of the proposed amendments on Jan. 31 split the council 3-2, Councilmember Kelly Boyd voting with Schneider, as well as meeting with opposition from local architects.

Architect Morris Skenderian said architects and landscape architects were not involved in the proposed amendments.

“Pose the problem: ‘How do we get more green space’, and we’ll work with you,” Skenderian said.

He urged the council to separate structures from impermeable surfaces for the purposes of calculating lot coverage.

“I did a one-story house [where the code would have permitted a two-story design] that made everybody happy, but it had to exceed the lot coverage,” Polster said at the first hearing. “To make it a variance is not a good idea.”

The council will revisit the proposed amendments at the April 17 meeting.