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State changes force Tooele to shrink garage depth, count garages in required parking and raise guest‑parking ratio
Summary
Tooele City staff proposed a package of zoning amendments to align local parking rules with recent state law changes, including shortening required garage depth to 20 feet and counting enclosed garage spaces toward minimum parking.
Tooele City staff proposed a package of zoning text amendments May 7 to bring local parking requirements into compliance with recent changes in state law.
Community Development Director Andrew Agard told the council the Utah Legislature has revised parking‑related rules (citing Utah Code 10‑9a‑534). The state changes cited by staff include a new definition of “affordable housing” for parking purposes (housing priced at 80% of the county median home price), a limit on the maximum required garage depth to 20 feet for single‑family and two‑family dwellings, and restrictions on how tandem or two‑car garages may be counted in municipal minimum‑parking calculations. Agard said the state also prohibits a city from requiring a garage for an owner‑occupied dwelling that meets the state’s affordable‑housing definition and requires that enclosed garage spaces be counted toward a municipality’s parking minimums.
To comply, staff proposed amendments to Tooele City Code sections 7‑4‑4 (number of parking spaces), 7‑11‑8‑13.1 (townhouse parking), 7‑11‑b‑5 (design standards), and table 7‑14‑5 (minimum residential unit size). Specific proposals include changing the city’s 22‑foot garage depth requirement to 20 feet, allowing enclosed garage spaces to count fully toward required parking (for example, a two‑car garage plus two‑car driveway would be credited with four spaces under the proposed scheme), creating a formal exception to an on‑site garage requirement for owner‑occupied units priced at 80% of the county median, and increasing the guest‑parking requirement from one space per four units to one per three units to help offset garages used for storage.
Agard said staff will need to verify affordability claims when developers assert the 80% threshold and that county median home prices will fluctuate. A council member said the county median is about $470,000; Agard said staff would research and confirm the figure when an applicant claims eligibility. Council members also noted practical concerns — including that some large pickup trucks would not fit in a 20‑foot garage — and discussed likely behavioral effects if garages are used for storage.
Staff plans to forward the proposed amendments to the planning commission for formal review and public hearing before the council considers adoption.
