Planning Commission backs parking-code amendments, clarifies tandem rules for residences

Salt Lake City Planning Commission on Wednesday recommended the City Council adopt changes to the city's parking code and to codify the Off‑Street Parking Standards Manual, forwarding an amended text that narrows a residential tandem‑parking condition while preserving tandem allowances for other uses.

The amendments respond to two bills passed by the Utah Legislature. Staff said Senate Bill 181 requires city codes to count unobstructed tandem parking toward minimum parking requirements and restricts requiring garages for owner‑occupied single‑family homes; House Bill 368 requires engineering and development standards be adopted by ordinance rather than kept only in administrative manuals.

Principal planner Megan Booth told commissioners the proposal would allow tandem parking citywide, count driveway parking toward required spaces if the driveway provides at least one stall behind the front line of the building, define "unobstructed" to match state guidance and move existing stall dimension standards (9 feet by 20 feet for uncovered; 10 feet by 20 feet for covered) into an ordinance so they remain enforceable. "This proposed…