What started out as one man’s code compliance violation is resulting in a change in the rules that will allow Santa Maria homeowners to add covered patios in side yards.

The City Council unanimously approved an amendment to the municipal code that allows covered patios in side yards for homes within the city’s single-family zoning areas.

Homeowners are now allowed to have covered patios, that are open on three sides, within the required side-yard space — many developments have one side yard that is a 10 foot setback from the property line. The patio cover can have a maximum height of 10 feet and a maximum size of 200 square feet, according to the code.

In order to preserve space between neighbors, the vertical supports must be at least 5 feet from the property line, and any eaves must be at least 4 feet from the property line.

This change to the code began in the Community Development Department, when staff received a request to look at the rules governing side-yard patios after a Santa Maria homeowner was given an order from the Code Compliance Department regarding a disallowed patio cover and construction in the home’s required setback.

“We looked at the code to see if there could be leniency from set back regulations,” said Community Development Director Kirk Lindsey. “But how much leniency ... and we worked to create the proposal.”

City staff worked with the homeowner’s representative, Bill Orndorff of Orndorff Planning Services, to come up with the amendment.

Advertisement

Lindsey noted that the department is always looking at code amendments, and keeps a list of what areas should be re-evaluated.

Although the covered patios are now allowed under the municipal code, homeowners looking to build them still are required to get a building permit, which for a lightweight cover could cost roughly $150, or for a solid cover about $200, according to Bob Marshall, Santa Maria’s building official.

Orndorff, who was the city’s community development director before he retired in 2001, said that he had thought the code allowed such construction before he was brought in to the project by the homeowner, Trent Benedetti.

Orndorff said that Benedetti, who is a former Santa Maria Planning Commissioner and an occasional columnist for the Santa Maria Times, believed at the time of construction that the patio cover was allowed.

He added that some architectural details, such as eaves, bay windows and fireplaces, are allowed to intrude on the required set back as a way to encourage better aesthetics on the sides of buildings.

By allowing patio covers, “it allows a little flexibility yet is not compromising aesthetics,” Orndorff said, “it actually increases the quality.”

“My feeling, and staff indicated that these are allowed in the rear yard, and in most subdivisions there is a five foot side yard and a 10 foot side yard, people would like something in the 10 feet,” he added.

Malia Spencer can be reached at

739-2219 or mspencer@santamariatimes.com.

July 27, 2008