Agenda - Council - 04/24/2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

c^s IG ADOPT ORDINANCE TO REPEAL SIZE LIMITS ON ATTACHED GARAGES By: Community Development Director Sylvia Frolik Background: In 1999, City Code regulations regarding garages and accessory buildings were amended. One of the changes consisted of establishing a size restriction of 1,000 square feet on attached garages. The Building Official subsequently reported that the new rule was not workable nor necessary. On April 11, 2000, the City Council introduced an ordinance to repeal the 1,000 square foot size restriction on attached garages. Observations: Unfortunately, the ordinance got lost in the shuffle and was never brought back to Council for the second reading or adoption. As Council may recall, the logic for the decision to eliminate the size restriction on attached garages included: a) Building Official had already received several building permit applications for homes with attached garages larger than 1,000 square feet and they did not look odd at all; b) most of the surrounding communities either had attached garage size restrictions that exceeded 1,000 square feet or had no restriction at all. In addition, Staff looked at restricting the garage size from exceeding the footprint of the house. That too did not appear to be reasonable because there are many large homes with relatively small footprints because of the popularity of 2, 3 and 4 level dwellings. Staff also considered going to a percentage of the home size as a restriction in garage size. Part of that consideration included a review of existing situations in Ramsey. We looked at attached garages ranging in size from 1,100 to 1,360 square feet and they represented anywhere from 46% to 76% of the house size. So, garages can be over 1,000 square feet and not necessarily represent a high percentage of the house size. Staffthen looked at garages ranging in size from 680 to 916 square feet. Now they were under the 1,000 square foot restriction but represented anywhere from 62% to 86% of the house size. So, garages can be less than 1,000 square feet and represent a relatively high percentage of the house size. City Staff recommends adoption of the enclosed ordinance that was introduced on April 11, 2000 to repeal the size restriction on attached garages. The following meeting minutes are also enclosed: Planning Commission on April 4, 2000 and City Council on April 11, 2000. Council Action: Motion to adol2t Ordinance #01-__ to amend Chapter 9 (Zoning and Subdivision of Land) to eliminate size restrictions on attached garages. Reviewed by: City Attorney CC: 04/24/01 -233-