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Detached garage vs accessory buildings

S

SW MI Planner

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After numerous discussion regarding our accessory building ordinance, and confusion that a detached garage *IS* an accessory building, the PC wants to treat detached garages differently than other accessory buildings by allowing them in the side yard (and restricting other accessory buildings to the rear yard). They have said a detached garage will hold cars and other related household equipment.

Staff sees it that regardless, a detached garage is an accessory building, and defining them separately causes the following problems:
1) At the permit level, we will need to ensure that they are also constructing an improved driveway, that the building will have garage doors, and that they will be using it to store vehicles.
2) After construction, we then have to worry about what is inside of the structure. If it no longer contains vehicles, then its an accessory building (based on how they want to define it) and not allowed in the side yard.

Any thoughts into this? Does your ordinance define detached garages differently than accessory buildings? If so, can you post the ordinance (or pm me)? Does it cause any problems with enforcement?

I'm thinking that rather than trying to worry about a definition of a detached garage, that the ordinance simply allow accessory buildings (ALL of them) in the side yard if the principal structure does not contain an attached garage; and if it does contain an attached garage, accessory buildings would be allowed in the rear yard. Any thoughts on this?!

Thanks in advance!
 
I guess the biggest public health, safety, welfare angles on side setbacks and building separation requirements would probably be the whole emergency access and building separation issues. Why from this standpoint should different standards exist for detached garages or other accesory bldgs? There's either adequate access/fire safety or there isn't.

I confess I've never heard of treating garages differently from other accessory buildings and from a land use perspective don't really understand the rationale. I also think the enforcement concerns (are there cars in there this week?....month?....year? Is it still considered a garage?) are perfectly valid. The problem with cars is that they move, while the accessory structures don't, and designating the accessory structure's usage at any given time would therefore be very problematic.
 
The communities I have worked require a 10' separation between accessory structures and the principal residence (including and especially detached garages). This pretty well excluded a structure to the side of a house. However, some innovative soles "attached" the garage with a breezeway affair.
 
At the permit level, we will need to ensure that they are also constructing an improved driveway, that the building will have garage doors, and that they will be using it to store vehicles.

Do any of the single family dwelling units have alleys?

After construction, we then have to worry about what is inside of the structure. If it no longer contains vehicles, then its an accessory building (based on how they want to define it) and not allowed in the side yard.

I think it would be partly based on what the original intended use of the structure was. If the garage is later used for storage and cars are stored in the driveway, then you might need to check the off-road parking requirements for those homes. If the garage is turned into an office then you might have a home occupancy. I would just assume that the garage is meant to be used for the storage of cars.

I just dug up an old project on my portfolio that dealt with garage issues (among other things). Out of the 14 communities I analyzed in the report, most of them limited the number of accessory structures on a lot to just one. Personally, I think that it is very inflexible and leads to too many requests for variances. I agree, the breezeway is often used as a creative loophole.

About 1/2 of the communities analyzed allowed garages in the side yard. They were required to either be set back 3'-5' from the side or rear lot line OR they had to be set back at least as far as the primary dwelling unit. Naperville, IL's 2005 zoning ordinance allowed one drive in the first 75' (of frontage? I don't remember) and one additional drive per 75' or fraction thereof. Corner lots were permitted one drive on each street, provided that it did not affect the safe use of the roadways.

Orland Park IL allowed one attached OR one detached garage no larger than 800 SF per dwelling unit where the lot size does not exceed 21,780 SF. One detached AND one attached garage no larger than 800 SF (for both garages I assume) are allowed for dwelling units, where the lot size is 21,780 SF or larger. However, this was still limited to garages. I don't see any additional exceptions for other accessory uses.

I have seen a few other cases where more than accessory structure is allowed, provided that no more one garage is provided on the lot. Another option is to create a separate definition such as an auxillary use and keep sheds, gazebos, greenhouses, pools, cabanas, etc under this heading.

Hope this helps-
 
SW MI Planner,

I'm not sure how large the parcels are in your community but are structures like pole barns an issue? If this is an "accessory building" and not a "garage", would that explicitly prohibit the property owner from storing vehicles in there? Would a vehicle be limited to currently registered passenger vehicles? What about a tractor (and I don't mean a riding lawn mower or glorified golf cart)?

Personally, by separating garages from the rest of the accessory buildings, you are getting too involved in what is going on or being stored within the confines of the walls. As long as they are not operating a meth lab or storing a flight of Harrier Jets, I don't see the problem.


Over here on the east side, I believe the city of Troy (MI) had some issues with an ordinance like this a couple of years ago. I think the issues arose out of the fact that there was one or two residents who built "garages" as defined by the ordinance but they were excessively large detached garages with storage space for about 20+ vehicles (these were serious collectors) and neighbors complained about the size/number of garage doors and the ratio of garage square footage to total livable house square footage. I am not sure what the final outcome of this situation was but I am pretty sure they have all of their current ordinances online. I will take a look in a bit and see if I can find a link.
 
Around here a detached garage is treated just like an accessory building - smaller in sq ft and in height than house.

Side yard issue only if it fits within the setback requirements - 2 ft from property line;
10 ft seperation from the house; & inline w/ or behind the front yard setback of the house - 25 ft.
 
I don't know about where you are, but when we were looking at changing the off-street parking regulations (requiring less) many citizens got up and said "...but we don't use the garage for cars" and just by driving around my community it is fairly obvious many garages are used solely for junk and/or 4-wheelers, boats, table saws, etc. I see the rational behind wanting a change because it seems obvious at first glance but really you're regulating the interior which is a scary place to regulate. I can see the calls now... "Neighbor X hasn't had cars in there for 3 years - you better go get him - or I'm gonna leave my cars in the driveway too!"

Someone else mentioned it, but an easy fix is to attach garage to houses with a covered breezeway which (in our codes) means they are one structure. So long as the garage has the proper side yard setback it really makes it much easier on enforcement and easy-to-understand perspective. You need to write codes that most normal people can understand and that is why I think many zoning ordinances are too complicated and intricate. Anything not attached to the house is an accessory building. Easy to understand and easy to enforce.
 
Perhaps you are starting to over think this situation.

I am very familiar with the zoning regs for the Village of Arlington Heights, IL and this code (available Here- page 121) treats this situation pretty well.

First accessory buildings and structures are specifically defined as a category and then the most common forms of accessory buildings (ie det. garages, sheds and gazebos) are specifically defined. But this important thing is that a detached garage is always an accessory building but an accessory building is not always a detached garage - detached garages are a subset of accessory buildings.

If you can make this distinction, then the next step is to establish bulk regs specifically for detached garages. Arlington Heights specifically limits detached garages to 720 sqft maximum and 15 feet tall and they are only permitted in the rear yard (behind the house).

I think that if you PC wants to treat accessory detached garages differently from all other forms of accessory buildings, I don't really see a problem with that - just make sure there is a good reason to justify it - not that anyone will likely complain, especially if the changes are a general benefit to everyone.
 
mendelman said:
Perhaps you are starting to over think this situation. (snip)
I think that if you PC wants to treat accessory detached garages differently from all other forms of accessory buildings, I don't really see a problem with that - just make sure there is a good reason to justify it - not that anyone will likely complain, especially if the changes are a general benefit to everyone.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! That I am (overthinking), but they have run me and the rest of the staff in circles with this one!

My concern by differentiating a detached garage from an accessory building is the definition of a detached garage. In my City, they want to allow detached garages in the side yard and the rest of accessory buildings in the rear yard. The code you referenced states that a detached garage used or intended to be used for the parking or storage of cars. The problem I see, and others here have mentioned, is what happens if they no longer store *cars* in them? What if they want to use it for a workshop (just for themselves, not a home occupation). I just see a ton of enforcement issues with it.

(And for what it's worth, if they were to connect the accessory building to the house via a breezeway for example, it is now treated as though it is part of the principal structure.)
 
Garages are specifically called out in our ordinance. They're allowed to the side of a principal structure, unlike other accessory buildings save gazebos (others as well but only in multi-family and commercial). Additionally, connection via breezeway does not make it one building.

We require 6' separation. All setbacks need to be met.

We don't specifically define "garage", so I can't provide guidance on the use issues in this thread. We also don't limit the size of a detached garage. It can be larger than the principal structure.
 
SW MI Planner said:
Thanks for the info!
The code you referenced states that a detached garage used or intended to be used for the parking or storage of cars. The problem I see, and others here have mentioned, is what happens if they no longer store *cars* in them? What if they want to use it for a workshop (just for themselves, not a home occupation). I just see a ton of enforcement issues with it.
Click to expand...
Well, I guess this gets to your level of comfort with the situation. If someone builds a detached garage and all that is required (ie, paved drive, etc), and they end up just using it for a workshop or general storage, I wouldn't have a problem with it. In fact where I used to work, we never enforced the "garages are for the parking of cars" definition - staff would have been strung up.

I say that it is not a problem if one owner in the string of owners of a particular property doesn't use the garage for strictly car storage, because subsequent owners will.

The most important thing to do is make sure that detached garages are built to the standards required, such as paved drives, required setbacks, etc. Just make sure it quacks and walks like a duck, although it may act at times like a pig.

Good luck with this one - the simpliest things can sometimes be the most frustrating.
 
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