A Seadrift home in Stinson Beach was “grudgingly” approved by Deputy Zoning Administrator Curtis Havel last Thursday, following opposition from the Stinson Beach Village Association that the house’s size would be overly large and out-of-character with the town’s rural atmosphere. Mr. Havel flip-flopped after rejecting the project on June 25, when he refused to grant a variance from the town’s height limit. (As of Wednesday, the village association has not decided yet whether to appeal.) The original plans for 150 Seadrift Road described a 3,206 square-foot house that rose above Stinson Beach’s county-mandated 25-foot height limit, a deviation that requires special county approval. Flood-insurance standards set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, however, require minimum floor elevations; the raised one-story home would be about 10.7 feet from floor to ceiling, which applicants claimed would leave little breathing room for living spaces. Project architect Steve Wisenbaker, who has designed a few of the 300 homes in the gated community, lowered the height to a few inches below 25 feet; still, Mr. Havel took issue. “My concern is that we’re taking the community fabric of an established development pattern—smaller homes [built] in the ‘50s—and they’re being replaced with larger homes,” he said. He green-lighted the project only because the town’s initial opposition voices had not chimed in prior to the second hearing.