Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell is backing a call by some City Council members for a moratorium on large-scale houses in residential zones until permanent language can be imposed putting limits on the so-called “monster houses” that have been sprouting up in older Oahu neighborhoods recently.

The mayor, in written comments Tuesday responding to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser query on his position on the monster-­house debate, said he also supports the call for stronger regulations tied to parking, house size, setback and height.

Caldwell also urged the Council to pass his two-bill affordable-housing initiative that he first offered in May, arguing that it might ease the demand for larger dwellings that, at least in some instances, are being triggered by a lack of available moderate- or lower-priced housing.

“The spread of monster homes is a serious issue that affects the well-being of families in long-established neighborhoods, and we need to get a handle on the situation before it spirals out of control,” Caldwell said. “Although the construction of some of these monster homes is the result of Oahu’s need for housing, we cannot allow these oversized structures to change the character of our communities.”

Oahu residents in older urban neighborhoods such as Palolo and Manoa, but also in other parts of Oahu from Hawaii Kai to Haleiwa, are complaining about the proliferation of larger residential structures that tower over their own homes.

While they are often found to be legal under current laws, critics complain that they don’t simply mar the character of their neighborhoods, but overburden streets, sewer and water lines and other infrastructure not designed to accommodate larger homes, create flooding and ground stability risks, and raise property taxes.

Bill 110 calls for the Department of Planning and Permitting to immediately halt issuing building permits for large-scale houses until the Council can adopt stricter regulations on the structures, or up to two years.

Caldwell said a moratorium would buy the Council, planning department and Honolulu Planning Commission time to evaluate the impacts of the new dwellings in residential zones and determine what kind of amendments should be made to the Land Use Ordinance.

Earlier this month the Council approved Resolution 17-276, instructing the department to come up with a bill that would restrict houses to no more than a certain size based on an as-yet-to-be-determined floor-to-area ratio or density. It would also place a yet-to-be-determined limit on the number of wet bars allowed per dwelling, and require each dwelling to have a minimum of two parking stalls for the first 2,500 square feet and one extra stall for every additional 500 square feet.

Caldwell said Tuesday he supports upping the parking requirement and restricting density but also wants to impose greater building setbacks and stricter limits on building height and reduce the allowable footprint on a lot.

Council Planning Chairman Ikaika Anderson, who introduced the moratorium bill, said stopping the issuance of building permits for larger residential structures now will ensure the Council will also have enough time to insert language in the city General Plan restricting their construction before the situation accelerates further.

Anderson said he supports a proposal by Councilman Trevor Ozawa that would require those seeking permits for larger houses to obtain approval from the Council because it would give neighbors a chance to provide input.

Ozawa, who represents the East Honolulu region that has seen arguably the largest jump in large-scale houses, said he’s been pressing the Caldwell administration to take action since the beginning of the year but that only recently has it begun to do so.

If he had his druthers, the moratorium would also halt construction of larger houses that already have permits, he said.

Ozawa said he doesn’t like the idea of bringing Caldwell’s affordable-housing bills into the discussion because “it muddies the waters.”

But Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, executive director of the Hawaii Construction Alliance, said there’s a clear nexus between larger houses and the lack of affordable homes. His organization supports Bill 59, which offers a series of breaks for housing developers including waivers from various city fees, charges and even park requirements, as well as property tax breaks during construction and, for rental projects, for the duration of the affordable phase.

Rental projects have not been built in several decades because they don’t pencil out financially without any incentives, Dos Santos-Tam said, noting that the Legislature is expected to take up measures to address that point when it begins meeting next month.

Bill 58 overhauls the city’s current affordable-housing policy by requiring developers to make units available to those making less money and to keep those units affordable for a longer period of time than now required, in exchange for building fewer affordable units than current rules require.

Council Zoning Chairwoman Kymberly Pine, whose committee is working on the affordable-housing bills, said she expects final versions of both to be unveiled next month. Both have been fast-tracked “despite the very complicated subject matter,” Pine said. “Any mistakes could result in stopping all construction, ruin our economy and, even worse, produce zero affordable housing as the Maui policy did many years ago.”

As for a moratorium, Pine said she will support one only if it “does not discriminate against multigenerational families and certain ethnic groups. I also want to make sure rich and low-income areas are treated the same and will be held to the same standard. If a large monster home is banned in Makiki, it should also be banned in Kahala.”