From the Austin Chronicle

“At last Thursday’s City Council meeting it was McCracken vs. McMansions. A resolution initiating changes to city code to ensure that development is consistent with existing neighborhoods, sponsored by McCracken, passed unanimously. Council is set to vote on similar interim rules at tonight’s meeting to quell a perceived influx of building permits before the so-called McMansion ordinance is finalized in March. Materials accompanying the proposed measure state that ‘due to an increase in property values and the desire to live in Austin’s central city area, many property owners are demolishing or moving smaller older homes and replacing them with larger homes known as McMansions.‘ The new ordinance would seek to regulate such constructions by employing any number of the following methods: changing the maximum allowed building height for single-family uses, creating a new floor-to-area ratio (meaning the ratio of building square footage to lot size), applying compatibility standards to new homes or remodeled homes with significant additions, revising building setbacks for homes exceeding a certain size, limiting home size based on the average size of nearby homes, or providing an angled stepback from the front property line of the lot so a new or remodeled home would not tower over the adjacent street. – D.M.”

Seriously? They put the word “McMansion” in the official language? Can we replace “smaller older homes” with “Cracker Box Houses”?
I’m not against the City Council addressing this issue. I’m just against them being silly about it.