Commerce City staff and council back motor-court housing with new design limits

Commerce City staff told the Planning Commission and City Council at a study session that they will allow motor‑court housing as an alternate building form in the draft Land Development Code, but with defined design, maintenance and siting limits.

Staff principal planner Sun introduced the topic and said motor courts are existing product types in Commerce City and that the development community asked that the code allow them. Planner Heather Vidlock described proposed controls: a 20‑foot maximum driveway width, a maximum driveway length of 150 feet from the nearest public street edge (to meet fire access standards), a cap of four structures in a motor court (for example four duplex structures = eight units), a requirement that front doors face the street where feasible, private maintenance agreements (easements and recorded covenants) for private drives, and a limit that no more than a set percentage of a development may be…