Memo

To:	Planning Commission Members
From:	Cary K. Teague, City Planner
Subject:	Accessory Buildings - Consideration of an Ordinance Amendment
Date:	September 19, 2000

At its July 25, 2000 meeting, The City Council formally received a neighborhood petition regarding concerrns pertaining to accessory structures. At that meeting, the Council directed staff and the Planning Commission to draft an Ordinance Amendment to revise the City's existing regulations on accessory buildings and consider requiring a Special Use Permit for accessory 2nd garages over a certain size.

Council also directed staff to conduct a survey of how the City's regulations on accessory buildings compared to other Twin Cities communities. The attached table is a result of that survey. Please note that New Brighton is generally more restrictive in terms of the size of accessory buildings that are allowed, in particular when an existing attached garage is present.

The following summarize the attached table:

All ten (10) of the cities surveyed allow accessory buildings.

New Brighton is the most restrictive in terms of the number of accessory buildings allowed. New Brighton allows a maximum of one (1). All other cities allow two (2) or more.

New Brighton is the most restrictive in regard to maximum size allowed. Maximum size allowed in New Brighton when an attached garage is present is six hundred (600) square feet. Other cities allow up to, and in some instances over, one thousand (1,000) square feet.

Of the ten cities, five required special use permits for certain types of accessory buildings. Mounds View, Blaine, Roseville, and Eagan require a special use permit for accessory buildings over 864-
1,000 square feet. Fridley requires a special use permit for a second accessory building regardless of size.

Over the past 2-1/2 years, 33 building permits have been issued for accessory buildings within the City of New Brighton. The majority of those permits were for smaller storage sheds to house small household tools and equipment. Of the 33 permits, 16 permits were for structures larger than 400 square feet in size (a small 20 x 20, 2-
stall garage).

One way for the City to have some controls on accessory buildings would be to require a special use permit for structures over a certain size. That would allow the City to place certain conditions on any approval; would allow neighbors to voice their opinions on such a structure; and if the proposal did not meet all of the special use permit criteria, could be denied.

Attached is an Ordinance amendment regarding accessory buildings, please note that a detached accessory building over 400 square feet would require approval of a Special Use Permit.

The draft Ordinance is for discussion purposes only. The Planning Commission is asked to make comments and recommendations. A revised draft would then be brought back for discussion next month.

ACCESSORY BUILDING SURVEY OF CITIES

City	Allows Accessory Buildings	How Many

Allowed	Maximum Size	Lot Coverage	Special Use Permit
New Brighton	Yes	1	1,000 s.f. without attached garage & 600 s.f. with attached garage	30% building coverage	No
Arden Hills	Yes	No limit

(looking at a change to 2 max)	728 square feet	25% of rear yard	No
Edina	Yes	No limit	1,000 s.f. total - excluding an attached garage	25% building coverage	No
Fridley	Yes	No limit	1,000 s.f. max. for 1 structure - 1,400 total for all acc. structures	30% building coverage	Yes - For construction of 2nd accessory building
Shoreview	Yes	2-3	1,000 s.f. max. & 1,500 total for all acc. structures (if detached garage exists, the 2nd building may not exceed 200sf	30% building coverage	No
Mounds View	Yes	3	952 square feet or 1,400 sf maximum	20% of rear yard	Yes - If detached garage exceeds 952 sf.
Blaine	Yes	No limit	1,200 square feet total	30% building coverage	Yes - If garage/shed space exceeds 1,000 sf.
Roseville	Yes	2 - (1 garage + 1 shed)	1,008 square feet	40% of rear yard	Yes - If garage exceeds 864 sf.
Eagan	Yes	2	Up to 1,100 square feet excluding attached garage	30% building coverage	Yes - for access. bldg. over 1,000 sf.
St. Anthony	Yes	No limit	No size limit - covered under building coverage requirement	35% building coverage	No
Lino Lakes	Yes	2	Access. Building & garage may not exceed 1,120 s.f.	30% building coverage	No