Glendora House-Height Petition Drive Succeeds

The City Council must decide next week whether to rescind a controversial housing-height ordinance it passed in August or put the matter up to a popular vote.

Glendora PRIDE, a slow-growth group opposed to the council’s decision to raise the height limit, submitted 3,517 valid signatures after an 18-day petition drive last month, according to the city clerk’s office. The group only needed signatures from 10% of the city’s 24,812 registered voters to force a referendum on the ordinance.

Councilman David S. Bodley, a member of Glendora PRIDE elected last spring, said he hopes the council, which passed the ordinance by a vote of 3 to 2, will rescind the measure Tuesday night rather than call for a referendum. If the matter must be put to a vote, Bodley said he favors placing it on the April, 1990, ballot to save the $20,000 cost of a special election.

The ordinance raised the height limit for new homes to 30 feet from 25 feet. Developers may build houses as tall as 35 feet with City Council approval.

Builders had argued that the 25-foot limit was unrealistic when most new houses are Tudor-style homes with steep roofs. However, members of Glendora PRIDE complained that the taller houses obstruct the views of hillside residents and damage the appearance of the foothills.