Luxury Remodeling in Whittier

Whittier's hillside zoning chapter can be amended or repealed only by a vote of the people, and where the city's zoning rules conflict on a hillside property, it tells the Planning Commission and City Council to give preference to protecting the natural environment. The city also has four locally designated historic districts, from Hadley-Greenleaf, where the Craftsman bungalow is the predominant style, to College Hills, subdivided in 1923 on land that was once part of Worsham Ranch, where many properties have panoramic views. In College Hills even the retaining walls, the original street lamps and the Canary Island pines along Bryn Mawr Way and Philadelphia Street are listed as contributing features of the district. A backyard plan here starts with three questions: whether the lot is zoned H-R, whether it sits in a historic district, and where it falls on the state fire hazard map.

Hillside parcels in the H-R zone take their lot area, building site and building heights from each approved hillside development plan. Elsewhere, new R-1 lots generally must be at least 7,000 square feet and new R-E estate lots at least 15,000, buildings including accessory buildings may cover no more than 40 percent of the lot in either zone, and heights top out at 35 feet in R-1 and 30 feet in R-E. Where an R-1 neighborhood is predominantly single story, the city may limit or prohibit second-story additions.

One team designs, permits and builds every project, and our own crews self-perform the work, so the people who plan your Whittier project are the people on site building it.