Patch Blog: Building A Small Eco Home in South Pasadena

South Pasadena Patch readers:

I am in the middle of building a hillside eco-green home here and would like to share my journey.  

I would love to hear back from those who have built or remodeled a home in South Pasadena and have had to deal with the Building and Planning Department, Public Works, or the Planning Commission.

My wife and I moved to this great little corner of the world last September. We found South Pasadena completely by chance. We loved the charming small town feel, the proximity to downtown, the Metro Gold Line, and the exceptional schools.  

As home lending slowed, it made sense that the price for raw land would fall more quickly relative to home prices. In 2009, we started considering building our own home and began looking for empty lots. We found an empty lot for sale on a wonderful street and closed on it in May of 2011.

In July 2011, we hired local architect Jim Fenske. Jim as an excellent reputation and his designs are also eco friendly. Jim’s home is located in our neighborhood and a picture of his home is even in the city’s hillside ordinances as an example of how to build a hillside home.

Our lot is very small, and we wanted a home with a small footprint. Jim has been able to design a modest home that we love for our small family and the home is extremely energy efficient. Our home is under 1,500 square feet.

Now for the not so fun part of building. Our project is being handled by senior planner John Mayer. After 7 months of back and forth with John. our project was deemed complete—meaning it satisfies all the planning requirements in the municipal code.  

This process could have taken 2 months but the Planning Department had little interest in being helpful and proactive. Our home doesn’t even require any variances.

What we find most alarming is that the Planning Department has placed 116 conditions of approval in order to build our home and to advance to the next step, which is to go to the Planning Commission for approval. 

In his email to me John Mayer writes: “These are the conditions that the Planning Commission will adopt as part of the Hillside Development Permit.”

The fact is, the Planning Commission can adopt, amend or remove the conditions.

Some of these are standard, but many are unprecedented, capricious, and not found anywhere in the Municipal Code. I was ambushed with the full set of conditions at noon, the day of the commission. 

The Planning Commission continued my project to this month’s agenda recognizing that I was not given enough time to review them. I have had to hire an attorney to help me navigate through these onerous conditions.

My architect and other experienced builders I have spoken to estimate that these conditions will easily add over $250,000 to the cost of the construction of my modest house. The conditions would also double or even triple the normal construction time adding even more expense.

I am sharing these 91 conditions with 15 sub-conditions (116 total) as an attachment.

I also find it very strange that our city welcomes and even solicits large condo and multiple family projects but discourages single eco-friendly family homes.

I would like to hear from Patch readers who could help me understand the reasoning for the city's opposition to my project.

Thank you,

Harry