On Thursday night, City Council members narrowly approved regulations that will make it harder - but not impossible - to greatly expand homes, or demolish them and build much bigger ones that don't fit in with the neighborhood.

The ordinance will last one month - though the council plans to start tweaking it as soon as Tuesday. Meantime, planners will study residential zoning and later suggest permanent changes.

The new rules were going to last six months, but the time period quickly dwindled as architects and builders criticized them for curtailing their livelihood in the middle of a booming construction season. And they feared new regulations could restrict them from proceeding with routine remodels because they will add time, and thus money, to projects.

"What you're telling people is you can't refinance and remodel your house right now," said Jeff Walker, who said he has turned "blighted homes" into "wonderful" ones. "What happens when [interest] rates go up? This is the best time to be doing this work."

And two neighbors of a 16,000-square-foot home under construction in the Avenues - criticized by some as being too large for the area because it sits where two homes used to be - defended the mansion. Ben Rogers lives next door to that home on H Street and 14th Avenue - recently pictured in The Salt Lake Tribune - and said it is his 1,300-square-foot house that is out of place. Not the mansion.

"My house literally used to be a chicken coop," he said, adding that there are several large-scale homes nearby that are increasing his property value. The City Council "is taking away people's [property] rights."

But other residents urged the city to protect their interests instead of developers' pocketbooks. "I would like a little protection for the existing neighbors so we're not pushed out by the mega developments," said Avenues resident Earl Miller. Without the temporary rules, he said he could be surrounded by new stucco additions. He said he could move to the suburbs if he wanted that.

Rob White, executive director of the Utah Heritage Foundation, told the council the tear-down trend in other states starts with individual homeowners and then spreads to developers who buy several homes to tear down and rebuild.

"We have to do this now," added White's assistant director, Kirk Huffaker.

In general, the new rules make it more difficult to:

l Obtain permits to add new stories to homes or expand them more than 50 percent.

l Demolish a house and replace it with a bigger one.

l Expand homes that don't comply with city zoning.

l Build new homes that aren't compatible with the "size and scale" of surrounding homes.

Property owners who want to build bigger will have to seek exceptions from the city's Board of Adjustment. Violators will face a monetary penalty and perhaps a six-month delay in obtaining new building permits.

Had they been passed earlier, the new rules would have limited the size of two homes now used as examples of the egregious. One is 10,000 square feet on Hubbard Avenue in Yalecrest, which replaced a home and dwarfs its neighbors. The owner of the 675 E. 8th Ave. house wouldn't have been allowed to add a second story, and the backyard addition would have been narrower.

Three council members - Carlton Christensen, Van Turner and Nancy Saxton - opposed the new regulations. Christensen said they were too prohibitive. Dave Buhler, Eric Jergensen, Dale Lambert and Jill Remington Love voted for them, though with reservations. While past zoning changes have taken the council years to approve, this ordinance was created and passed in less than a week.

"We don't know what impact it will have because we haven't had the opportunity for full public notice," Lambert said.

hmay@sltrib.com