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Tiny Homes

California law provides for relaxation of many building code provisions for residences in remote locations. Also California has provisions for Accessory Dwelling Units Or ADUs which are small residences located on aa lot with another building. Because of the need to build more affordable housing the State has preempted much of the issues related to the ADUs preventing them from impose more restrictive requirements.
 
In the early 80s the lone building inspector in Piedmont asked me to apply for an open position on the Design Review board because he didn't want a "housewife" on the panel, after several months I resigned because I couldn't bear sitting on a panel debating until midnight which color we were going to mandate a home be painted. In Pleasanton several years ago they mandated a La Habra stucco color on a home, in the end the owner changed the color by one shade, the building department refused to final the home because of the color change, the local newspaper published articles about it including pictures of the mandated color and the owner's choice side-by-side, you could barely tell the difference and there was such an uproar that the city finally relented and allowed the owner to occupy the house. There are good reasons for zoning regulations, like separating single family from commerical occupancies that I agree with that are unfortunately breaking down, but mandating dormers, porches, or roof pitches are not good reasons and do nothing but take people's freedoms away from them.

Urban blight as in Russia comes from lack of eye candy, think Santa Barbara and other communities mandating common appearance features.
 
Urban blight as in Russia comes from lack of eye candy, think Santa Barbara and other communities mandating common appearance features.
I'm of two minds on this one.

I don't feel it is the place of the government to regulate aesthetic items this closely. I can get behind setbacks, accessory structure restricting, etc. But what colours are acceptable? I understand if the community is trying to maintain some architectural elements and commonality in historic areas, but I see this in newer communities as well.

On the other hand, laws are passed by those who are democratically elected and if restrictive laws such as these are not struck down at the next election, I would have to assume the populace was in favour of these regulations.
 
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