After three years of heated debate, an ordinance that would set rules on home expansion and design will be put to its final test today.

The Santa Barbara City Council is scheduled to vote on the controversial Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance at a 6 p.m. hearing at City Hall.

First enacted in 1992, the newly-updated ordinance would strengthen limits on how large homes can be built with respect to their lot size, among other changes.

Residents, particularly in the Mesa and San Roque, have complained for years about the “mansionization” of their neighborhoods. They say developers are building large homes on small lots because of skyrocketing property values. The larger structures and extravagant designs, they say, are blocking their views and wrecking the character of their neighborhoods.

City officials have been weighing property rights with these community concerns for the last several years. A special task force consisting of City Council members and others appointed by elected officials held public hearings to gather input for about two years.

The Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance was approved by the Ordinance Committee earlier this month. The City Council will have the final say today.

The new ordinance would apply only to single family homes. Under the guidelines, homes under 15,000 square feet would subject to a sliding scale of floor-to-lot-area ratio that could range depending on the project.

Other changes would be made to rules on parking requirements, balcony encroachments and basement design.

The Ordinance Committee also is recommending the establishment of a new board, called the Neighborhood Preservation Board, which would enforce the new rules. Members would include an architect, a landscape architect, members of the Architectural Review Board and others.

Recruitment for these positions would likely begin May 8, and members would begin holding hearings as early as July 16.

If it is approved today, city staff members are recommending the council review the entire new ordinance -- including the effectiveness of the new board -- in two years.