The Los Angeles City Council approved a motion on Tuesday to create a temporary moratorium on demolishing houses in some local residential neighborhoods while it addresses the issue of building large houses commonly referred to as “McMansions” in their place.

The motion by Councilman Paul Koretz, 5th District, calls for the planning department to draft an ordinance that would temporarily ban the houses from being demolished. After the planning department makes its recommendations, a moratorium will be considered again in council committees and later by the full council. The process will likely take approximately 75 days.

According to the motion, the moratorium on home demolition would apply to the North Beverly Grove District in the 5th Council District and the Sunset Square, South Hollywood, La Brea Hancock and Carthay Circle districts in the 4th Council District. Other neighborhoods outside of the local area include Oxford Square, El Sereno, Holmby and Studio City/Valley Village.

Paul Michael Neuman, a spokesman for Koretz, said a need for a moratorium has become clear as numerous residences throughout the city have been demolished to make way for “McMansions.” The long term goal is to limit the size of new houses that are sometimes built to the edges of parcels, overshadowing existing homes in residential neighborhoods.

Koretz successfully passed rules last year that limit mansionization in Beverly Grove, and is now seeking to establish the regulations in other parts of the city. The goal is to close loopholes that allow developers to build houses that otherwise wouldn’t be allowed under neighborhood zoning, and to limit the new homes to approximately 50 percent of a parcel. The councilman added that it will likely take a year-and-a-half to make final changes to a city ordinance that would limit the size of houses that can be built on specific parcels, but the moratorium will provide relief  in neighborhoods  in the meantime.