What are best dimensions for bus garage with 2000 sq ft? What size door?

belfert · April 30, 2014, 10:28:38 AM

I'm perfectly okay with 2,000 square feet. The total building height is a problem if the roof peak can only be like 14 feet tall. My bus is currently stored outside and I have a 600 square foot garage which is half full of stuff. Going from 600 square feet to 2,000 square feet will be huge for me. The extra interior height will help too.

belfert · May 02, 2014, 08:03:08 PM

I'm getting nowhere with the city here. Nobody at city hall can show me in writing what the requirements are for a garage, especially the height requirements. I even went to city hall and nobody in the zoning/planning department could find anything in writing. I've now got an email into the city administrator trying to get a answer.

How can the planning/building officials verbally tell me the requirements for a garage yet the requirements don't seem to exist in writing? I want to see the requirements in writing to verify what they are telling me is correct.

luvrbus · May 03, 2014, 04:59:39 AM

That is the city hall way of doing things I doubt you ever get it in writing

I figured out years ago you pick the battle you can win local governments do about anything they chose to do right or wrong.I am sure they have some little got you in the charter to impose their BS on you as they see fit to do

belfert · May 03, 2014, 10:58:02 AM

I don't understand how they could deny a building permit for a garage that is taller than the house if the requirements are not in writing. I suppose a denial could be appealed to the planning commission and/or city hall, but it is probably a no win situation. I'm not going to play the game of hoping the building official won't notice the building is taller than the submitted plans.

I looked at pretty nice house today. Bank owned and the bank is putting in a new septic and well. The thing I didn't like is the house appears to only be 17 feet tall at the peak and I need 19 feet minimum to build my bus garage. The only hope for this house is if I find out there is no height restriction on garages.

Jon · May 03, 2014, 01:17:03 PM

Just file a freedom of information request, not only asking for a copy of the garage height regulations, but for the city council vote which made it law.

luvrbus · May 03, 2014, 02:08:11 PM

Counties,cities and states are not required to give information under the FOIA only if they choose to give the information some cites are doing it on certain items now but not many as they like their own little world screw the public

Jon · May 04, 2014, 04:11:05 AM

If height restrictions are kept secret the city puts itself in a very bad position. I cannot imagine any government entity withholding information relative to laws or regulations.

luvrbus · May 04, 2014, 04:39:42 AM

The City Manger is the place to go they are the most powerful people and agency in a City Government they have the power to wave any law,code or regulation.

My brother was a city manger in Texas for a long time he could pull some strings to have a business come to his area regardless of any regulations or codes on the books, it may not work for Brian but I would give it a shot,start at the top not the bottom of the ladder

belfert · May 04, 2014, 06:00:47 AM

I don't know that anyone at the city is trying to hide anything. City staff was trying to hard to find the answer to my question. One staff person was looking through city code to see if garage height is specified there. There is no city manager, but there is a city administrator. I have an email into the city administrator to try to get an answer.

It seems strange that everybody in the planning/building department knows off the top of their head that garages cannot be taller than the house, but none of them can find it in writing.

Jeremy · May 04, 2014, 08:13:28 AM

You'll probably find that the 'garage no higher than the house' thing isn't a specific rule in itself but rather a commonly-agreed summary of the combined effect of various different rules taken together.

Your comment that "everyone knew the rule but no-one could find it in the book" reminds me exactly of the situation in the sport of sailing - again, the rules there tend to be summarised and combined and turned into standard phrases which everyone uses and understands - and which are fully correct, yet you won't find any of them in the rule book.

Jeremy

Dave5Cs · May 04, 2014, 11:46:19 AM

if they won't give you a FOIA on it then Like Clifford said go to the City Manager and if he says the same thing, then Ask him to give it to you in writing and sign it. If he won't and the building Department won't, then ask them what is the Height for any structure within the lot % perimeters, (which should be 35 feet). Then ask them to give you a copy of that or put that in writing. Then it is all in the wording such as I am building a Shop, garden shed, tool shed, Vehicle storage shed, etc. Get creative, Attach it to the house with a breeze way, call it future livable area that turned into a place to park the Bus because you didn't have the funds to enclose it. In most states they want you to build livable space because it is taxable and garages generally are not unless used for commercial businesses with proper zoning.

Dave

Lin · May 04, 2014, 01:55:58 PM

Since you do not want to end up building something and then having trouble, maybe it would be best to consult a lawyer with expertise in the field. Also, there are often independent businesses that specialize in helping people through the permit process. They can be very knowledgeable and are even often former employees of the city department. A good one can get approval for things you would never get on your own.

Dave5Cs · May 04, 2014, 02:19:17 PM

The "L"word?

belfert · May 04, 2014, 05:12:16 PM

In order to build a structure with a 2000 square foot footprint it has to be the principal garage on the property. You can't call it anything else. There cannot be an attached garage on the house. Other accessory structures can be built, but size varies based on number of acres. Accessory structures are by code limited to the height of the house unless the property is over 5 acres in which case the height limit is something like 35 feet. Over 5 acres also allows for the building of pole structures. A 5+ acre property allows for an accessory structure of 1,800 square feet.

It turns out the house I want to build is 22 feet tall at the peak so this whole thing could be a moot point. I'm waiting to hear from the city administrator tomorrow. I won't get a lawyer involved because I am not building this building now, but I want to be sure I can build it in the future. It could very well be that city code changes before I can afford to build this building and the size of garage allowed goes down.

luvrbus · May 04, 2014, 06:38:24 PM

Sad when you buy property and the local government tells you what you can build and what you cannot,it is really their property you just have a long term lease you never own it lol

I get real pissed this time of the year when I pay property taxes I figured in 30 years I paid more in taxes than I paid for some of the property