Title
Carport Development Standards Discussion
Body
Summary & Background
Background
In the fall of 2024, City Council directed City staff to provide a briefing on the City's current development standards for carports and the issues raised by community members who have a desire to put up detached car ports. The following information provides a brief overview of the City's current carport standards, common violations, and potential alternatives for how the Land Development Code could be updated to address community concerns.
Current Standards
The city’s Land Development Code (LDC) regulates the development and use of private property within the City. The LDC contains certain design standards, such as height, setbacks, size, and other design requirements that must be followed for construction of structures on a property.
For residential properties, the LDC provides one set of standards for primary structures on the lot, such as a home, and a variety of accessory structures, such as detached garages, storage sheds, decks, greenhouses, and swimming pools.
Accessory structures differ from primary structures in that they are subordinate to and smaller than the primary structure and are used for purposes commonly associated with the primary use. They also can have more flexible locational standards from the primary structure, such as decreased setbacks, because the size limitations of accessory structures and limited impacts on neighboring properties associated with these structures. Additionally, for lots constructed with single-family and duplex structures, no more than three accessory structures in total are allowed on a single lot.
The current standards regarding carports were adopted with the Land Development Code in 2009. Prior to 2009, the zoning code allowed detached carports with supplemental standards that required them to match the color, style and type of materials used for the principal structure.
The LDC currently allows attached...
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