From: Holly Osborne <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 5, 2022 7:06 PM
To: Eleanor Manzano <[email protected]>; Todd Loewenstein <[email protected]>; Christian Anthony Horvath <[email protected]>; Christian Horvath <[email protected]>; Zein Obagi <[email protected]> Cc: Sean Scully <[email protected]>; Brandy Forbes <[email protected]>; Laura Emdee <[email protected]>
Subject: Comment on garage parking for July 5, 2022.
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Here are my comments that I just spoke. This is so you have them for your record; and can get the minutes right!
Thanks
Holly
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Holly Osborne <[email protected]>
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 5, 2022, 04:48:05 PM PDT
Subject: Fw: Comment on garage parking for July 5, 2022.
Good evening Mr. Mayor -pro tem and council members:
My name is Holly Osborne, District 5.
I want to comment tonight on garage door widths, and garage widths, and regulations.
Here is what led to this. In thinking about getting a new garage door for my two-car garage, I measured my door, and it is 15'6". It turns out Redondo's code for a two-car garage door width is 16 ft , although there are obscure corollaries that say you can deviate from this by 6" or 1 foot, or whatever. My garage is a detached garage in the back of the house. Its overall dimensions are 18 1/2 ft wide by 20 ft; it was built in 1947.
My single-car driveway has a section that is only 8 ft 6" wide, although the requirement for a single-car driveway is 9 ft. Again, there are mitigating circumstances, so my deviation done by the developer is also legal. The driveway is also smack against the side of the house, so that there is essentially no parking on that portion of the driveway, as I could not open the door of the car, once parked. Legal deviations do not prevent cars from scratching themselves.
There is a whole section of Redondo, the tall and skinny area, where there are two car garages on the ground level of the "tall and skinny." Supposedly, these garages are designed for two cars, but I was told that "no one" can get two cars in the garage. Those garages cannot have more than an outside width of 19 ft, because the lots are only 25 ft wide, with 3ft setbacks on each side. In fact, I drove around that neighbor-hood yesterday on the holiday, and found most driveways parked with two cars. I suppose some people can cram their cars into the garage; but I am going to guess that most cannot, especially if they do not want scratches.
However, whatever the deficiencies that the "tall and skinny" garages may or my not have, these homeowners can get two cars parked in the driveway, and do not need the street.
So why I am bringing this up?. Because I am aware that there are plans for town-home construction; and I believe that the town homes are going to have parking on the first level. In this case, there will not be driveways in front, so it is imperative that the garages actually can handle the cars. Otherwise, the cars will be forced into the street. Right now, I do not believe Redondo has any of this type of townhome construction, so their code might be deficient in handling it.
I googled the internet as to the size of a two-car garage, it replied:
"The smallest size you would want to go for a two car garage is 20×20.
Depending what size and style your vehicles are, you may be in for a very tight squeeze. However, with very careful parking, you can park smaller to regular sized cars inside..'
Another search on the internet confirms this (this is from the city of Temeculas code) on parking spaces:
A.Parking Space Dimensions. The minimum size of a standard parking space shall be nine feet wide and eighteen feet long. Parking spaces within enclosed garages shall have an interior dimension of at least ten feet wide and twenty feet long.
That means, if you need two spaces, you need a 20 ft inside width, or a 20x20 ft parking area.
People, especially in this era where developers and builders are trying to use loop-holes to minimize their parking spaces, it is absolutely imperative that the built in covered parking spaces are adequate and can be used. Please adjust the garage width code as necessary for this type of town-home construction.
Thank you