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Colonial Beach sets June public hearing on zoning amendment to define floor-area ratio
Summary
Town staff asked the council to advertise a June 18 public hearing on zoning text amendment 25-02, which would add a formal definition of floor-area ratio (FAR) and clarify that an attached two-car garage up to 526 sq ft would not count toward the 0.4 FAR in R districts.
Colonial Beach staff asked the town council to advertise a June 18 public hearing on zoning text amendment 25-02, which would add a definition of floor-area ratio and update the private garage definition while leaving numeric FAR limits unchanged.
Planning staff (S5) told the council that the amendment does not increase the FAR maximum in any district and that R districts would remain at 0.4 FAR. "There is no increase proposed in the FAR standard," S5 said, and the draft instead seeks to clarify what area is counted toward FAR by measuring from the exterior faces of exterior walls.
The draft language would also specify that, for single-family dwellings, an attached two-car garage up to a maximum of 526 square feet (roughly a 24-by-24 footprint) would not count toward the 0.4 FAR. S5 said the change responds to builder concerns that, on 5,000-square-foot lots, homeowners could not include a typical attached garage without exceeding the FAR cap.
Planning staff recounted stakeholder outreach that included builders, realtors and residents, and said the planning commission held a public hearing on May 8 and voted 7-0 to recommend approval of the amendment. S5 summarized that the stakeholder meeting helped balance compatibility concerns for neighborhoods with market demands raised by builders.
The proposed amendment would also update the ordinance's definition of "private garage" and require a permit and review if a homeowner seeks to convert a garage so staff can confirm the property still meets the 0.4 FAR limit.
Council members asked technical questions about accessory structure footprints (the ordinance currently limits detached accessory structures to a 20-by-20 footprint) and whether a homeowner could claim an entire first floor as garage space. S5 replied that a full first-floor conversion would not pass the test and that the exemption is limited to a modest attached garage size.
The mayor called for a voice vote to set the public hearing; members answered "Aye," and the council agreed to advertise the June 18 public hearing. The council will consider public comment and any further amendments at that meeting.
The next procedural step is the advertised public hearing on June 18, when the council will hear public testimony and decide whether to adopt amendment 25-02.
