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Staff recommends separating porte-cochere and carport definitions to avoid conflation

Development Services Committee · March 3, 2026
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Summary

Planning staff told the committee that carports, porte-cocheres, canopies and patio covers are conflated in current code; staff recommended distinct definitions and using porte-cochere as an integrated architectural feature rather than an accessory structure.

Staff emphasized that several different roofed features—carports, porte-cocheres, canopies and patio covers—are currently lumped together in the code and recommended separating them into clear definitions. "A carport [is] a roof structure used for vehicle shelter and parking," Ryan Moulke said, and staff proposed a separate definition of porte-cochere as "a roof structure architecturally integrated with and extending from a principal structure over a driveway allowing vehicles to pass through."

Staff argued that clarifying definitions would avoid placing development standards inside a definition and would make enforcement and permitting more straightforward. The committee supported the approach and asked staff to identify which terms should remain in the development code and which could be handled by building code or residential codes.