Full Text
1 Ogden City Council Meeting: October 3, 2017 AMENDMENTS TO REGULATIONS REGARDING NON-CONFORMING FRONT YARD PARKING AND REASONABLE ACCESS TO ABUTTER’S ALLEYS Action: Approve/not approve Ordinance 2017-42 Planning CommissionRecommendation: Approval of the amendments (5-0) Executive Summary A petition has been filed by Anne Hagopian and Kevin Koons to amend the City’s ordinance to clarify the regulations for determining ‘reasonable access’ to an abutter’s alley with regard to the expansion of non- conforming parking within a front yard setback. Background As per the City’s ordinance, single-family and two-family homes are required to have at least two off-street parking spaces that are not located within the front yard setback of the home. This is normally accommodated with either an attached or detached garage or a parking slab on the side or rear of the home. However, in certain instances, such as Ms. Hagopian’s, off-street parking beyond the front yard setback is not possible. Lack of parking can be an issue in older neighborhoods where the original garages were smaller or not actually part of the original structure. Also, many of the lots in these older neighborhoods are narrow and do not have the typical side yard setbacks newer neighborhoods have. In those cases, there are regulations setting standards for the creation and expansion of off-street parking within the front yard setback of a home. The proposed amendments are specific to the creation and expansion of parking within a front yard setback for single-family and two-family residences. In the petitioner’s case, the existing home featured a small, single-car carriage garage; however, the garage was too small to be practically used for the parking of an automobile. Because of this, the driveway leading to the small garage had been used for off-street parking. As discussed in the transmittal documents and the Planning Commission report, Ms. Hagopian and Mr. Koons hired a contractor to enclose the small garage for additional living space and expand the driveway to accommodate parking for two cars. Upon notification by the City that permits had not properly been obtained for the garage ---PAGE BREAK--- 2 Ogden City Council Meeting: October 3, 2017 enclosure, Ms. Hagopian and Mr. Koons were also informed that they were not allowed expand the driveway to accommodate the desired off- street parking because the parking was located within the front yard setback of the home. The City determined at the time that since the petitioners had access to an abutter’s alley to the rear of their property, the City’s ordinance would require that parking be created in the rear of the lot and that the existing abutter’s alley be used for access. As a result of this discovery, the petition was filed with the intent to amend the regulations requiring them to use the abutter’s alley as access for additional parking. In the case of Ms. Hagopian and Mr. Koons, an alley, known as an abutter’s alley, exists behind the home. Ogden City has many of these alleys and they have proven to be quite problematic over the years. These alleys are not publicly dedicated and are the collective responsibility of the abutting property owners. Because they are not public rights-of-way and are privately and collectively owned, most of these alleys are not maintained and few are paved. This is the case with the petitioner’s alley. The current City code regarding front yard parking (§15-6-2.15.B.4.b) indicates that if a property owner wishes to expand off-street parking within the front yard setback that property owner may do so as long as certain conditions are met. The conditions to expand or create parking include a requirement that space is not available for the parking in the front, or that there is not reasonable access to locate legal parking in either the side or rear yards. The term ‘reasonable access’ is the term in question in the petition. The petitioner has access to the abutter’s alley to the rear of the property but the discussion is whether that abutter’s alley constitutes reasonable access due to its condition. The phrasing used in the existing code regarding reasonable access does not specifically refer to access to an abutter’s alley; however, the Planning Staff has indicated that that was the original intent of that term. With the abutter’s alley in poor condition, the code would seemingly require the petitioner to rehabilitate and maintain the abutter’s alley to accommodate additional off-street parking. It is this section of the code the petitioners wish to clarify. ---PAGE BREAK--- 3 Ogden City Council Meeting: October 3, 2017 September 19, 2017 A work session was held to discuss the proposed amendments. At the meeting, the Council reviewed both the petitioner’s requested changes as well as additional changes proposed by the Planning Staff regarding total front yard driveway coverage for all single-family and duplex lots. The Council requested that the two proposals be separated to allow the Council to consider the changes requested by the petitioner separately from the changes proposed by Planning Staff. The changes proposed by Planning Staff have been separated and will be addressed in a separate action. Current Proposal The current proposal is to amend the City’s zoning ordinance to address the petitioner’s request to clarify what reasonable access means with regard to abutter’s alleys. Reasonable Access Amendments The petitioners have requested an amendment to the City’s code to clarify that an unmaintained abutter’s alley does not constitute reasonable access when considering parking expansion in the front yard setback. To address this, the proposed ordinance introduces language in several sections of the code. Section 15-6-2.B deals with additions or enlargements of nonconforming structures. The amendments proposed (marked in red) to the Front Yard Parking section are included below and provide clarification on when existing parking might not qualify as required parking and clarification on how reasonable access is defined. b. Front Yard Parking: A maximum of two hard surface parking spaces may be added in the front yard setback, [if] when all of the following standards and conditions are met: No legal parking has existed on the property or the property has a garage/carriage house that may appear to provide legal parking, but it cannot accommodate modern vehicles due to having original interior wall dimension space of twelve feet (12’) or less in width, seven feet in height, and a depth of less than twenty feet and [space in not available, or there] There is no reasonable access to locate legal parking either in the side or rear yards; ---PAGE BREAK--- 4 Ogden City Council Meeting: October 3, 2017 [Such space] Front yard parking must remain open and unobstructed to the sky; No portion of a [parked] vehicle parked in the front yard shall extend beyond the front property line into the public right of way; [The parked v] Vehicle(s) parked in the front yard shall not exceed eight feet in width, twenty feet (20’) in length, and seven in height; [and] The front yard parking area and its associated driveway shall be a hard surface [and the] pad or sets of two foot wide tire-runners of either concrete, asphalt, sod-block, or block/coble stone; The front yard parking area shall have a minimum width of nine feet and Front yard driveways and parking areas that are greater than nine feet wide shall not exceed fifty percent (50%) of the front yard area. (additional sections not proposed to be amended are not shown here) d. For the purpose of subsection B.4.b(1), reasonable access is defined as either: Having at least eight feet of clearance in the side yard setback on either side of the building without obstructions that cannot reasonably be avoided, such as utilities, window-wells, a direct elevation change of three feet or greater, or retaining walls three feet or greater: or Having a right-of-way or alley adjacent to the property with established rights for access, where; The travel distance to the property line is less than one-hundred feet (100’) from an improved street and the right of way or alley has at least a minimum of twelve foot (12’) wide space that is or could be paved; or ---PAGE BREAK--- 5 Ogden City Council Meeting: October 3, 2017 The travel distance to the property line is more than one-hundred feet (100’) from an improved street and the right of way or alley has an existing minimum twelve foot (12’) wide paved surface. Planning Commission The Planning Commission reviewed the amendments at its July 5, 2017 meeting and forwarded a recommendation of approval to the Council. The Commission made its motion on the petitioner’s request and voted to recommend approval with a vote of 5-0. The findings for the motion were that the amendment to exclude abutter’s alleys as reasonable access is consistent with the intent of the zoning ordinance and policies outlined in the general plan. Public Comments There were no public comments included in the transmittal for the July 5, 2017 meeting. Attachments 1. Transmittal 2. Ordinance 2017-42 3. Planning Commission Report 4. Petition 2017-3 Council Staff Contact: Glenn Symes, AICP (801) 629-8164 ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- 2017-42 ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK---