HomeMy WebLinkAboutA001 - Council Action Form dated February 27, 2018 ITEM # 28
DATE: 02/27/18
COUNCIL ACTION FORM
SUBJECT: ZONING TEXT AMENDMENT RELATED TO PRIVATE GARAGES AND
ACCESSORY BUILDINGS, IN PARTICULAR, MAXIMUM CUMULATIVE
GARAGE DOOR OPENING WIDTH
BACKGROUND:
On December 12, 2017, the City Council directed staff to prepare a text amendment to
increase the cumulative dimensional standard for garage door opening width from
twenty-seven (27) feet to thirty (30) feet width for single=family homes and to allow
under certain circumstances, additional garage door width to exceed the maximum
cumulative dimension when they are not generally parallel to and not viewable from the
street.
The referral was in response to a request by the chair of the Zoning Board of
Adjustment to consider different standards based upon two recent variance requests.
Although the existing standard appears workable for most people, two variance.
requests came before the Zoning Board of Adjustment during 2016-2017. One was for a
second garage not visible from a street and the other was for a three-door garage that
would be thirty (30) feet wide and exceed the of twenty-seven (27) feet total width limit.
Although each request was not incompatible with the surroundings, neither could be
considered a "hardship" and therefore, the variances could not be granted.
Increasing the cumulative garage door opening width to thirty (30) feet for single-family
homes would allow wider three-car garage door designs. A thirty (30) foot width would
provide greater ease in entering and exiting of the garage and better accommodation of
larger, wider vehicles. Although larger doors would increase the visual dominance of the
garage when street-facing doors are visible from the street frontage, the increase is
insignificant given the entire frontage of a home and the current 27-foot allowance.
Utility roll-up doors of less than eight (8) feet would continue to be .exempt from the
calculation to total width.
The current standards also restrict single-family homes to no more than a three-car
garage door design regardless of lot configuration, placement of the garage on the lot,
or visibility of the garage from the street frontage. The current standard is applied the
same to all single-family lots and is inflexible for addressing larger lots or unique
situations where someone could accommodate additional garages, without impacting
the street frontage. Therefore, a second change is proposed to allow for additional
garage door openings to exceed 30 feet for a home when the door openings do
not have a visual impact on the design of the home as viewed from the street. The
proposed standard is to allow only twenty (20) feet of garage door width located
parallel and visible from the adjoining street when the total garage door opening
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width exceeds thirty (30) feet. Attachment 1 includes diagrams illustrating allowed
and not-allowed configurations.
In addition to adjusting the garage door width standard, staff proposes to
consolidate all of the garage standards together and add language that clarifies
that alley access standards from other parts of the Zoning Ordinance apply to all
garages. The alley access standards are a setback of a minimum of eight feet or more
than 20 feet. This allows for the minimum backup maneuvering area needed to
convenient access to a garage and to ensure if a vehicle is parked in the driveway they
would not overhang into an alley. These standards exist in other parts of the zoning
ordinance, but are not restated in the accessory garage section of Article IV.
On January 17, 2018, the Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed the amendment
and voted 4-0 in support of the changes to garage standards of the Zoning Ordinance.
ALTERNATIVES:
1. The City Council can approve on first reading the proposed ordinance related to
private garages and accessory buildings as attached.
2. The City Council can recommend alternative language for the proposed text
amendment.
3. The City Council can request additional information and defer making a
recommendation.
CITY MANAGER'S RECOMMENDED ACTION:
The proposed amendment is a reasonable revision to the garage door opening width
standard and would permit the wider garage doors requested in each of the two
variance cases during 2016-2017. The proposed changes do ,not change typical
construction requirements for a standard three-car garage, but do provide more options
for configuring larger garages on a site. Under the attached ordinance, it will now be
possible for property owners to construct parking for four or more cars when the garage
opening do not have a visual impact towards the street.
Therefore, it is the recommendation of the City Manager that the City Council
approve Alternative #1 as described above.
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Attachment 1
Text Amendment for Increasing Garage Door Opening Widths
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Attachment 1
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