Burbank resident says it’s time for the city to move on from ‘mansionization’ issue

For nearly three years, several Burbank residents have been trying to get the city to impose stricter design guidelines and rules for single-family homes in an effort to prevent “mansionization.”

However, at least one resident thinks the city has spent too much time on the topic and needs to address other issues.

Troy Peterson, 48, who lives in the Benmar Hills area of Burbank, said talks about tightening up regulations regarding what people can do if they are planning a full tear-down renovation or building a new house have been happening since he bought his home in 2002.

“[Burbank city staff] keeps visiting this issue ad nauseam and ad infinitum,” he said. “It’s just annoying to me … From a financial perspective, it’s also an annoyance that city staff is spending so many hundreds of hours on this for so many years.”

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Peterson, founder and chief executive of PGP Wealth Services in Burbank, said that the proposed changes to the design guidelines and rules would slow down the rate that homebuyers would earn their equity back on the purchase of their home.

“Your biggest asset for most people is their home and the equity that they have in it,” he said. “If you were to simply buy a house for $800,000, tear it down and build the same sized house, you’re not going to end up getting your money back. It’ll be 20 years from now before equity will catch up.”

The financial planner added that he cannot tell someone “to build something that is not going to retain its equity or build more equity.”

Though Peterson said he is exhausted of hearing about the suggested changes to the design guidelines and rules, he does understand where some residents are coming from and agrees with some of the changes.

He likes that the city is tightening its rules regarding floor-area ratios and reducing the square-footage of the second floor in comparison to the first floor.

“Some of these houses are being built like boxes,” Peterson said. “They may be single-family residences, but they have no character; they’re as large as they can be. You don’t want Noah’s Ark built next to your house.”

While he may agree that people should not be building gaudy homes in Burbank, Peterson said that the city should be paying more attention to helping solve other issues, such as the homelessness.

The Planning Board is expected to review the suggested changes to the single-family homes design guidelines and rules on Dec. 12.

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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio