Sandy City is on track to adjust its minimum dwelling sizes and parking requirements for homes following a new state law regarding parking requirements and exceptions made for affordable homes.
Currently, Sandy’s minimum dwelling size in R-1 and R-2 residential zones range from 800 square feet all the way up to 1,875 square feet, though the proposed changes would cap the minimum at 1,000 square feet.
The Sandy Planning Commission voted unanimously in favor of a measure that would bring the city’s residential parking and building design standards up to date with recent state changes, including Senate Bill 181.
Passed earlier this year, SB181 allows affordable, owner-occupied housing to be built without a garage — which is a hurdle that some cities, like West Valley City, require for newly built homes. SB181 also clarified in code that a two-car garage would satisfy requirements for two parking spaces.
In a staff report, city planning officials wrote, “the state law specifies the required dimensions for covered and uncovered parking spaces, that tandem parking shall be counted toward two parking spaces, and that a garage is not required for a single-family attached or detached dwelling that qualifies as owner-occupied affordable housing.”
Sandy’s proposed changes would still keep a requirement for at least a two-car garage for single-family detached homes, though it would remove that requirement for owner-occupied affordable housing at 80% AMI.
During a House committee meeting earlier this year, state legislators implied their discontent with how SB181’s parking limitations only applied to affordable housing. The bill still allowed cities to require two-car garages on newly-built homes, which can be a major roadblock in creating more housing.
That section of state code altered by SB181 also includes the statewide minimum dwelling size, which is 1,000 square feet, not including a garage. In the course of updating the city’s zone in accordance with SB181, Sandy city officials noticed their code wasn’t in alignment with the state, so they took the time to update it.
“In looking through that and knowing that our residential dwelling size requirements were not in line, we took that opportunity to rectify that,” said Melissa Anderson, zoning administrator for Sandy City.
A smaller minimum dwelling size for one- and two-family dwellings could mean additional housing units could be built, which is noteworthy given Utah’s ever-present housing shortage.
Though the change may seem asinine, other Utah cities haven’t made this type of adjustment to city code. In Taylorsville, for example, the minimum dwelling size in code is larger than the state-mandated minimum of 1,000 square feet.
0 Comments