Quote:
Originally Posted by kevman
I don't think there are rules against those things as long as lot coverage is respected.
There is a requirement for accessory buildings to be 1m from the main dwelling but I don't recall anything if the buildings are attached. There is a new one on 2nd ave that has an attached rear garage with a narrow walkway from the house.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/63...4d-114.0773248
Edit - From the land use bylaw:
Quote:
Projections Into Rear Setback Area
338
1
Stairs, air conditioning equipment and window wells may project without limits into any rear setback area.
2
Awnings, balconies, bay windows, canopies, chimneys, decks , eaves, fireplaces, fire escapes, landings, porches, and ramps other than wheelchair ramps may project a maximum of 1.5 metres into any rear setback area.
47P2008
3
A private garage attached to a building may project without limits into a rear setback area provided it:
a
does not exceed 4.6 metres in height, measured from the finished floor of the private garage;
62P2018
b
does not exceed 75.0 square metres in gross floor area for each Dwelling Unit located on the parcel;
27P2011, 62P2018
c
has no part that is located closer than 0.60 metres to the rear property line; and
d
has no eave closer than 0.6 metres to a side property line .
|
So if you keep the garage under 75 square meters, respect the side and rear setbacks and keep it under 4.6m there is no issue being attached to the main residential building. |
Okay, we've got to back up and look at this from a greater overall perspective, because I didn't say rear attached garages aren't allowed
at all... You have to parse the Land Use Bylaw within the context of the land use designation that a parcel has, and the context of the neighbourhood. When I wrote "
there are (essentially) no rear-access attached garages in Calgary" I meant in the context of a neighbourhood like Twitchy15's and mine and the vast majority of single-family homes in Calgary.
Here's a breakdown of a cascading set of rules that makes this so:
Section 347(1)(b) says:
A Contextual Single Detached Dwelling [...] must not have vehicular access from the lane to an attached private garage
"Lane" meaning "back alley". This applies to all Low-Density Residential Districts; R-C1, R-C1L, R-C1N, R-C2, R-CG, etc. Most homes in Calgary are zoned in one of these land uses. That home in Sunnyside you picked out that has vehicular access from a lane to an attached garage is
not in a low-density district—it's built on a parcel zoned M-CGd72: "Multi-Residential Contextual Grade-oriented with a density no more than 72 dwelling units per hectare". (Say that quickly five times over...) In a nutshell it's zoned for low-rise apartment buildings. That's why access to an attached garage from the alley is allowed in that case; Section 347 of the LUB doesn't apply.
However, stick with me with the understanding most single-family homes are zoned R-C1. Section 347(1)(b) applies and says "no vehicular access from an alley to an attached garage". That does not mean you can't have access to a garage from an alley: you can if it's detached. That's why most single-family parcels with alleys will have detached garages at the back.
It also doesn't mean you can't have an attached garage in the rear of the property (as you quite rightly pointed out from Section 338 of the LUB), it just means you can't access it from the alley. You could, hypothetically, have a driveway that allows access from the street out front. Nothing wrong with that, and some older homes in older areas (e.g. Lower Mount Royal, Bowness) have such a thing.
But, if your neighbourhood does not have driveways already, generally you can't add one. Section 341(6) of the LUB says:
In the Developed Area a driveway accessing a street must not be constructed, altered or replaced except where:(a) it is located on a laneless parcel;
(b) it is located on a laned parcel and 50.0 per cent or more parcels on the same block face have an existing driveway accessing a street ; or
(c) there is a legally existing driveway that it is not being relocated or widened.
The gist of this is if you have a back alley and less than half the houses on your block have a driveway, you can't build a driveway. The "Developed Area" meaning the area defined in this map:
In effect, a rear attached garage becomes a moot option for the vast, vast majority of existing houses in Calgary.
All of that said, is it absolutely illegal to build an attached garage at the back of a house in a low-density residential district with access to it from the alley? No. You can apply for a relaxation of the LUB requirements. I presume the properties in Highwood that tvp2005 and Fuzz linked to did so. The one, 188 Hartford Road, is on a funky pie-shaped lot; maybe that was one of the reasons the City allowed them the relaxation. (Although that's a really weird-looking house all-in-all...). The other, 16 Hartford Road, is on a pretty steep slope, and that's likely why they allowed the attached garage there; structurally it may not have made any sense to build a detached garage there. Notice, however, that almost all the other properties in the area have detached garages in the back.