Agenda - Planning Commission - 06/07/2018

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d Donald Shoup, FAICP Figure 2. Garages converted to second units atthe front and back of houses. GARAGE CONVERSIONS AND URBAN DESIGN The large scale and bad design of some high -density infill projects often provoke opposition from home owners who want to preserve their neighborhood's physical char- acter. In contrast, garage apartments do not overwhelm existing houses and may even go unnoticed by neighbors. Garage conver- sions merely swap people for cars or storage, leaving exteriors virtually unchanged. Critics cannot say that a converted garage will be out of scale in the neighborhood because the garage is already there. Garage apart- ments create horizontal, distributed, and almost invisible density instead of vertical, concentrated, and obtrusive density. Home owners may begin to consider their garages like unfinished attics or basements that can be converted into living space when the need arises. With a garage conversion, no one has to build more housing because it's already there. The problem is that the city requires it to be reserved for cars, not people. Figure 2 shows single-family homes with converted garages in front of and behind the house. Both have enough park- ing to accommodate two, three, or more cars parked in the driveway or on the street in front of the house. Because most garage conversions have been illegal, most of them have been in backyards where they are inconspicu- ous. Few home owners would be foolhardy enough to illegally convert a street -facing garage into housing because it would be obvious to everyone, including city inspec- tors. The investment would be risky because of the high chance of being cited for two violations: converting the garage to housing and not having the required off-street park- ing. Nevertheless, street -facing garages may be the most suitable for conversion to hous- ing, for several reasons. First, street -facing garages already comply with zoning -required setbacks and height limits. Second, converting a street- facing garage into an apartment will not reduce privacy in the home owner's or the neighbors' backyards. The garage apart- ment's resident will also have more privacy with a separate entrance to the street. Third, converting a street -facing garage that is part of the house into an apartment should be cheaper than converting a freestanding backyard garage. The apartment can con- nect with the electricity, central heating, air conditioning, and plumbing in the main house, and can have a door into the main house if the apartment is occupied by a fam- ily member or caregiver. Fourth, fire engines or ambulances can easily access a garage apartment in the front, removing an objec- tion often raised against backyard cottages. Fifth, garage residents will provide more eyes on the street, and the home owners can feel safer while they are away if someone is living in the former garage. Sixth, converting a street -facing garage into an apartment can improve both the architecture of the house and the urban design of the street. Street - facing garages can be much more valuable for people than for cars. Figure 3. Design improvements from street- facing garage conversions, Los Angeles. All this can be accomplished with little effect on parking or aesthetics. Cars can still park side -by -side in the driveway of a front - facing converted garage. If a garage abuts the sidewalk and has no driveway, the city can issue a block -your -own -driveway permit to provide a guaranteed on -street park- ing space along the curb cut in front of the house. Moreover, a city can require design review for any garage conversion to ensure that it is consistent with the design of both the house and the neighborhood. The two renderings in Figure 3 illustrate the improvements possible when a resi- dential facade replaces a garage door that formerly dominated the front of a house, (The entry door to the second unit can be in the side setback.) AFFORDABLE HOUSING Off-street parking requirements in single- family neighborhoods prevent on -street parking congestion mainly by preventing second units, and most garage conversions that do occur are confined to the unregu- lated housing market rather than the formal market. Some home owners ignore not just parking requirements but also important safety precautions when converting their garages without building permits. These unregulated garage units may then not adhere to building codes, thus exacerbating existing concerns over the safety of con- verted garages. Urban economists have argued that high housing prices result not from a short- age of land, but from a zoning -induced shortage of building permits. Parking reforms that allow second units can provide a new supply of small, well -located, and high - quality dwellings within walking distance of stores and public transit. Allowing home owners to convert their garages into sec- ond units will allow the market to supply more housing with less parking and less traffic. By creating new affordable housing, garage conversions can reduce the demand for existing affordable housing —which is in short supply —by increasing both the number of units and their geographical availability. If reformed parking requirements ZONINGPRACTICE 548 AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION I pages