Agenda - Planning Commission - 04/04/2000

Home

CASE #: PROPOSED ORDINANCE TO AMEND SIZE LIMITS ON ATTACHED GARAGES By: Community Development Director Sylvia Frolik Background: The last time City Code regulations regarding garages and accessory buildings were amended (1999), City Staff decided to include a size restriction of 1,000 square feet on attached garages. Our intent was to prevent situations where the attached garage is larger than the home. The Building Official has reported that the new rule is not working. The Building Department has received at least 3 building permits already for larger homes that have garages exceeding 1,000 square feet and they do not look odd at all. In reviewing the situation, we surveyed other communities and determined the following: East Bethel prohibits attached garages that exceed the footprint of the house. Andover and Elk River do not put a limit on the size of attached garages. Ham Lake has a 2,000 square foot maximum on attached garages. The maximum in Coon Rapids is 1,200 square feet and 1,000 square feet in Blaine. -: Restricting the garage size to the size of the house is not recommended by Staff as an altemative. 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. Staff then 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. Recommendation: Until 1999, there wasn't a restriction on the size of attached garages and there hasn't been a rash of cases where the attached garage exceeds the size of the home. Now, with the new 1,000 square foot restriction we would have to process many conditional use permits each construction season, and delay construction a minimum of 7 weeks, for garage sizes which further analysis has shown do not look odd or out of place (i.e., if it works, don't fix it). The City Council was apprised of the pending building permit applications in conflict with the current 1,000 square foot restriction. The consensus was to process the building permits and take immediate action to amend City Code to go back to the way it was with no restriction on the size of attached garages.