Restrictions over building in the escarpment district can be resolved with variances from the Planning Commission or City Council.

Land-use lawyer Karl Sommer recently has won variances for three clients whose north-side lots were made subject to the 1992 regulations through September 2006 amendments.

In all three cases, the lots were created before 1992, but in each case the lot lines subsequently changed.

In the most recent case, the City Council overturned the Planning Commission so Fred and Susan Peck Massey of Houston could build a larger house on a 2.4-acre lot at 1003 Governor Dempsey Drive.

The Masseys originally proposed to tear down a 25-year-old house with 3,400 square feet of heated space and build a 5,980-square-foot house that would occupy more than the original ridge-top footprint.

The Planning Commission voted Aug. 4 only to let the Masseys rebuild the same size house on the ridge. But on Oct. 29, the City Council upheld the Masseys' appeal so they could build a 4,580-square-foot home.

In the second case, John Scanlan of Santa Fe sought to build a 4,600-square-foot house on a 5.4-acre lot at 500 Hillcrest Drive on the ridge-top footprint of a 3,750-square-foot house built in the 1940s but torn down in 2005. The Planning Commission on Aug. 30 approved the variance after a motion to make Scanlan build a house no larger than the original was defeated.

In the third case, Steve and Margo Pike of Tucson, Ariz., sought build a 7,231-square-foot main house and a 1,404-square-foot guest house on a 2.2-acre lot at 750 Cañada Ancha. On Oct. 4, the Planning Commission approved two variances for their plan — one allowing them to build on a ridge and another allowing them to put more than half of their house on slopes greater than 20 percent.