By Krista Daly
The Design Review Committee has come under harsh scrutiny, especially in the past few months, as San Marino residents have called for a stop to mansionization. More than once, they have demanded the resignation of all DRC members.
The DRC, in response to the criticism, has written a public letter addressed to “our San Marino neighbors” asking the city council to work with them to lay down specific guidelines that would not be subjective. They will also submit it to the city council for discussion.
In summary, the letter states the DRC wishes to address recent concerns over mansionization and offer constructive suggestions.
“Over the last few years, the city has faced unprecedented development pressure as San Marino has attracted new families and investors… While the DRC’s goal is to prevent the construction of out-of-scale house using the subjective ‘massing’ criteria in the residential guidelines, the city’s zoning code does not allow the DRC to prevent the replacement of older houses with newer and often significantly larger ones.”
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