Example leading Schaumburg to rethink detached garage limit

One huge garage and its car-crowded backyard are causing Schaumburg officials to revisit their regulations on both matters.

Neighbor complaints regarding a garage and backyard on the 1100 block of Lowell Lane have triggered interest in rewriting restrictions that took effect in April.

At that time, it became allowable for a detached garage of up to 650 square feet to be built in residential neighborhoods. Though the one in question is only 649 square feet, it's shown officials that what's allowable is too large.

Though neighbors see the garage as elevated due to a steep drop behind it, its height is technically the permitted 15 feet from the ground in front to the top.

These neighbors also are concerned by the total number of cars on the property. Not only are there seven in the garage -- three of which hang from the ceiling -- but about five more on a patio behind the house, they said.

At Schaumburg's planning, building and development committee meeting Thursday, village staff members said they'd look into that issue as well.

"When you live in the suburbs, you expect to have a certain amount of openness in the backyard," Trustee Tom Dailly said. "When you sit in the backyard, you don't expect to put up with that."

Neighbors had argued that the crowded backyard was encroaching on their own yards and hurting the resale value of their homes.

As separate actions, officials plan to rewrite garage size restrictions and place new limitations on the number of vehicles that can be parked behind a house.

Village staff members believe existing codes may already prohibit using patios for parking.

Dailly suggested no more than two vehicles be allowed behind a house and outside a garage. The committee will review a draft ordinance at its next meeting Feb. 7.

As far as garage size, committee members suggested reducing what's allowed from 650 square feet to 528 square feet -- the area of a 22-by 24-foot garage.

That suggestion will first be reviewed by the zoning board of appeals at a public hearing in either late January or early- to mid-February.

The existing 649-square-foot garage on Lowell Lane would remain, however, as it broke no laws when built.