Recommend City Council approval of the proposed ordinance.

Recommend City Council approval of the draft ordinance as presented.

The City of Shakopee is initiating a zoning text amendment regarding the design standards relating to single-family house development within the city. The proposed text amendment clarifies some areas of confusion within the current code and also modernizes parts of the code to current development standards and recent subdivision approvals.

Below is an outline of the proposed changes:

• Carports
  • Prohibiting temporary car ports constructed of metal tubing, fabric, plastic, and other materials (see attached photo for reference). Carports constructed of tubing and fabric are considered temporary by the Building Code (used less than 180 days) and are not supposed to be used permanently. Building permits are not required for these structures based on their average size and they often are used for greater than 180 days. Almost all temporary carports do not meet current building materials standards in the zoning code.
• Sidewalks
  • Memorialize the requirement of a sidewalk on one side of each residential street.  
• Structure Setbacks
  • Adjustments in required setbacks in the R1B zone to match current development patterns and match requests approved for recent subdivisions, with the addition of a setback to arterial roadways For R1B: 25' front yard setback, 15' street-side setback for corner lots, 7.5' side yard setback, and 40' setback to arterial roadways as identified in the comprehensive plan.
  • For front yard setbacks in infill development, except in the AG and RR zones, new structures must be within 80-120% of the average setback for the nearest 3 existing structures on the same block face.
• Window Coverage
  • Set a minimum requirement for window coverage on the different sides of single family houses. The Stagecoach PUD, a recent subdivision requires a minimum of two window openings on each side of a house.
  • The proposed coverage requirement is 5% coverage on the sides of the house, 10% for front facades facing a street or private drive, and 7.5% for the street side on a corner lot.
  • Based on the requirement being a percentage, a two-story home would require additional windows when compared to a one-story.
    
    
    
• Garage Protrusion (see attached diagram and photos)   
  • Limit the amount of protrusion of a garage beyond the front building line of the house or porch to no more than 50% of the width of the façade of the living space portion of the house, up to a maximum of 14'.
  • The proposed text amendment would limit the garage and garage door from being the most prominent feature of the façade (see attached drawings and photos). Living space above a garage within 4' of the front building line of the garage would be considered living space. 
• Accessory structure size in Agricultural and Rural Residential zones.
  • Set a maximum footprint of 2,400 square-feet for accessory structures on lots less than 10 acres.

Parcels receiving preliminary plat approval prior to the approval of this text amendment would not be subject to the proposed requirements for windows, sidewalks, and garage protrusion.