Man building in Avenues refuses to cut back plans

Michel Call's 6,000-square-foot home — derisively dubbed by some as the "McMansion" — will stay in the Avenues.

Call, whose neighbors have been clamoring for him to downsize his under-construction home, told reporters Monday the big house will be built as planned.

"I have 10 children and 20 some-odd grandchildren and counting," Call said. "We wanted to be able to accommodate visits from our children and grandchildren."

Neighbors had gathered a petition signed by 157 Avenues residents asking that Call reconsider the big house. Instead of a 5,300-square-foot home with a 700-square-foot garage, they were looking for a smaller-scale structure that would be more like 3,000 square feet plus the garage.

The petition was delivered last week during a community meeting that Call had requested.

But downsizing at this point would cost Call too much money since he has already put a significant investment into planning the house, which replaces the smaller 1,000-square-foot home that previously occupied the lot.

"To scale the house back, I was going to lose money on the whole thing," he said.

A further explanation of Call's reasoning has been submitted to the Deseret Morning News in a letter to the editor.

Call writes that bigger homes are needed in the Avenues to attract families back to the neighborhoods.

Without the larger homes families want, the Avenues could become "a slum," he said. Schools are closing in the Avenues. Meanwhile, in places like West Jordan, where Call is living until his new house is finished, schools are going year-round just to accommodate all the new families, he said.

"It's a way of refreshing an area that could end up being a slum area if people aren't allowed to build large structures," he said. "People won't build a tiny home on a real expensive lot. (The homes) will just keep getting older."

Call, who lived in Capitol Hill and the Avenues before moving to California, said he is in love with the area, which is why he decided to locate there when he moved back. He said many of his neighbors don't mind his home and said he would have to live with some animosity from the opposition.

"They may decide they don't want to speak to us," he said. "If that's their decision, I'm just going to let that be their problem, not mine."