LaGrange considering UDO changes for lot, garage and front porch size requirements

The City of LaGrange is considering a trio of UDO changes to allow for homes on smaller lot sizes with front-facing garages.

On Tuesday, the LaGrange City Council discussed a series of Unified Development Ordinance change requests from a local developer. Several changes were proposed, which the Planning Commission voted to recommend denial during its May 13 meeting.

The council at the time showed no desire to move forward with the request, however, staff was directed to conduct additional research on two of the potential changes.

The first change would reduce minimum lot frontage requirements for single-family homes with a front-facing garage from 50 feet to 40 feet. Currently, single-family homes can be on a lot with a 40-foot lot frontage; they just can’t have a front-facing garage. Front-facing garages are also allowed on homes with 40-foot lots if the garage is 20 feet or greater behind the primary building façade.

The second change goes hand in hand with the first, which is to eliminate the requirement that garage doors not exceed 50 percent of the front-facing building façade.

Council member Darby Pippin explained that the changes kind of go together because a 40-foot lot would only allow for a 30-foot wide home. Most double-car garages are 16 feet wide and would exceed the 50 percent limit.

Ultimately, the council settled on limiting the front-facing garages to 60 percent for 40-foot lot sizes but staying at 50 percent for 50-foot lot sizes and above.

The council also discussed what the change would have on another UDO requirement, that houses have a 96-square-foot front porch, noting it would be impossible with the garage increase to 60 percent.

Rather than eliminate the front porch requirement that some surrounding cities have done, the council came to a consensus on requiring a 30-square foot front porch, which would allow for a larger garage on smaller houses.

The council later voted to call for a public hearing on the potential UDO changes on Aug. 27.

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