Commissioners realize they need uniform rules regarding what's acceptable and what isn't.
By KELLEY BENHAM
Published May 10, 2003
LARGO - The city likes garages - to a point.
Officials don't always like it when people close in their garages because it often forces their cars into streets and yards. And it really irks them when people do so without a permit.
But when garages grow to gigantic proportions - as they tend to these days - that makes them nervous, too.
Commissioners reflected on their garage philosophy at a commission meeting Tuesday night. They agreed to allow one garage to be built and another to be eliminated, and they decided city staff should clarify some of its policies.
"There's no consistency," said City Manager Steven Stanton. "We'll have to redefine the policy of what's considered tacky and or ugly."
What's tacky in one neighborhood might not be in another, so the commission considers neighborhood compatibility when it decides what people can do with their garages.
Lots of applications for permits involving garages have come to the city lately, Stanton said. The commission dealt with two Tuesday night.
Commissioners approved the conversion of a garage into a den, despite concerns that doing so would clutter the front of the home with cars. The work had already been done without a permit, and most houses in that neighborhood had already made similar conversions.
When people convert their garages, they usually add more driveway for parking.
"We need to stop it," Commissioner Pat Burke said. "We're going to pave the world."
The owner will have to pay a triple permit fee. Many residents don't realize they need a permit for most projects, commissioners said.
Then commissioners approved a monstrous garage, which took the owner three years to design to the city's liking.
William Schultz wants a place to put his "guy stuff" - his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, an antique bread truck, welders, Jet Skis, pressure washers, tools.
"I just want a garage," he told the commission.
He first asked for a detached garage, but detached garages can only be 500 square feet. The city wrote that rule after someone built one larger and less attractive than officials liked.
So he designed a $50,000, 1,550-square-foot garage connected to his house. There are no size limits on attached garages, so he threw in a sun room and storage room for good measure.
Mayor Bob Jackson objected to the 10-foot door, designed to admit the bread truck.
"I guess I could park the truck in the yard, throw a couple canoes on top," Schultz said. That would not violate city codes. But it would "really drag down the neighborhood."
Commissioners agreed that even though the garage was big enough for substantial amounts of "guy stuff" it was nicely designed. When they approved it, Schultz clapped.
Commissioners also approved an agreement between the Largo and Belleair police departments to let their officers write tickets and investigate traffic crashes in either city.
Largo signed a similar agreement with Clearwater in February. Without such agreements, police officers can respond to felonies-in-progress that they encounter anywhere in the county, but they can only respond to traffic crashes or write tickets in their own city. The county's erratic borders create confusion for police officers and residents. Residents sometimes call the wrong department, and police officers often stand by with motorists after car wrecks, waiting for the appropriate department to respond.
Now, if a Largo officer sees a traffic crash or violation in Belleair, the officer can write a ticket or crash report.
