By Susan Motander
At its regular meeting on Tuesday, December 16, the Monrovia City Council voted to extend its moratoria (correct plural of moratorium) on demolition and building permits through November of 2015. This extension of the original 45-day moratoria will enable the city to hold forums and other public meetings on revising the building codes for the city.
Last month the council enacted a moratorium on demolition permits for houses built before 1940 and a second moratorium on building permits. Each was for only 45 days, long enough to allow city staff to develop a plan for revising the codes regarding building, especially homes. At the meeting on Tuesday, City Manager Oliver Chi said that the plan for meetings would be announced in January.
The moratoria were the result of public input regarding “mansionization” of the city, demolishing small homes and building “mansions” in their place. Throughout meetings of the Historic Preservation Commission and the Council, numerous citizens spoke out against what they said they saw happening in other communities especially in Arcadia.
In addition to extending the moratoria, the council also modified them to apply only to specific areas in the community and not the city as a whole.