Jockeying for a bigger spread

Jockey Garrett Gomez, the country’s leading rider by total purse earnings last year, apparently isn't such a big-shot in his own neighborhood.
The 5-foot tall Gomez lost his bid to build a house that would have been 24-feet tall.
By a 3-2 vote this week, the Duarte city council denied permission for Gomez to build the addition to his home because it exceeds his neighborhood’s height limit by 6 feet. The vote affirmed the Planning Commission’s refusal to grant a waiver.
Gomez, his wife and their two children currently live in a 2,250-square- foot, one-story, two-bedroom
home on 1.04 acres. He wanted to level the home and build a 4,061-square-foot residence with a maximum height of just under 24 feet. The new home would have had four bedrooms, four baths, dining room, family room, living room, kitchen, nook, pantry, office, gallery, foyer, media/loft room, wet bar, children’s study room,
laundry room and a two-car garage.
Sounds reasonable.
Except Gomez’s neighbors opposed theproposal, saying the house would block views, rob neighbors of privacy and set a bad precedent.
“There are better ways to configure this house on your property,” councilwoman Margaret Finlay said, suggesting Gomez build a single-story rather than a two-story home.
“We have codes and restrictions so that what is built blends with all that’s already there,” mayor Lois Gaston said.
The jockey’s wife, Pamela Gomez, told the Pasadena Star News she was too upset by the vote to comment.
“It’s unfortunate people let their emotions get the better of them,” the couple’s lawyer Bruce E. Schwartz said.