Agenda - Planning Commission - 03/16/1999 - Special Meeting

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CASE PROPOSED ORDINANCE TO AMEND SECTIONS 9.02 AND 9.11.02 OF THE RAMSEY CITY CODE REGARDING ACCESSORY STRUCTURES By: Zoning Administrator Sylvia Frolik Background: Per the Commission's direction, City Staff has drafted an ordinance to amend City Code to eliminate the single building siz6 restriction on accessory buildings. Enclosed for your information and review is the current code text with 'strikethroughs' and 'underlines' to highlight the differences between current and proposed language, and the proposed ordinance. Observations: The total amount of garage and accessory building space allowed on a parcel is not proposed to change with the amendment. However, the current code does not establish an amount of garage space allowed on lots less than 10,800 square feet (the current minimum lot size). With some of the new policies being written into the Comprehensive Plan and the potential increase in the use of Planned Unit Development tools in the future, Staff established another line item in the accessory building square footage allotment table for lots less than 10,800 square feet in size. Eliminating the single building size restriction raises the concern that a property owner could use up all of their square footage allotment in one garage or outbuilding that would not be proportionate to the home or parcel size. To alleviate this concern, staff included language that when garages and outbuildings are developed on a parcel, at least 400 square-feet of the allotment must be reserved for the primary garage and that no primary garage can exceed 1,000 square feet or 30% of the main floor area of the home. The term private garage was changed to primary garage and the definition affirms that primary garages are considered accessory buildings and shall not be considered a part of the home for home occupation purposes. The current table in City Code was expanded upon to include performance standards as well as the square footage allotments to simplify this section. In order to merge the performance standards into the allotment table and keep the table as simple as possible, it was necessary to extend the soffit, fascia, cave overhang requirement to parcels up to 5.59 acres in size versus the current 5.0 acres. Recommendation: Review the draf~ ordinance, direct any additions or deletions deemed appropriate, forward to City Council for adoption.