1. Lots Adjoining Alleys. In calculating the depth of a required side or rear yard setback for a lot adjoining a dedicated public alley, one-half of the alley may be credited as a portion of the yard.
2. Exceptions to Openness of Required Yards. Every part of a required yard shall be open and unobstructed from finished grade upward, except as specified herein.
A. Architectural projections, including roofs which cover porches, enclosed porches, windowsills, belt courses, cornices, eaves, flues, and chimneys, and ornamental features may project three feet into a required yard.
B. Terraces, patios, and attached features must be set back at least five feet from an adjacent side lot line, ten feet from the rear lot line, or 20 feet from any street property.
C. Fire escapes, fireproof outside stairways, and balconies opening to fire towers may project a maximum of 4.5 feet into a required rear or interior side yard, provided that they do not obstruct the light and ventilation of adjacent buildings.
D. For buildings constructed upon a front property line, a cornice may project into public right-of-way. Maximum projection is the smaller of four feet or five percent of the right-of-way width.
E. In commercial districts, a canopy may extend into a required front yard, provided that the canopy is set back at least five feet from the front property line, covers less than 15 percent of the area of the required front yard, and has a vertical clearance of at least 8 feet, 6 inches.
F. Accessory buildings are subject to all site development regulations of its zoning district, except as provided below:
(1) Side Yards. An accessory building may be located a minimum of three feet from the side lot line of the property if it is located between the rear building line of the principal building and the rear property line.
(2) Front Yards. No accessory building may be located between the front building line of the principal building and the front property line.
(3) Rear Yard. The minimum rear yard setback for accessory buildings shall be 5 feet. This minimum rear yard setback shall be increased to 15 feet if the accessory building requires vehicular access from an alley. Double-frontage lots shall require front-yard setbacks along both street frontages as set forth in Table 168.3. Easements may be incorporated into these required setbacks. No accessory building shall be located within any easement or right-of-way along the rear property line.
(4) Street Yards. No accessory building shall be located within a required front yard or street side yard.
(5) Maximum Size. With the exception of detached garages, no accessory building shall exceed 144 square feet, or 1.5% of the total lot area, whichever is larger, within a residential district. The maximum size of a detached garage for a single-family detached, single-family attached, or duplex residential uses shall not exceed 30% of the building coverage of the back lot. All buildings on a site, taken together, must comply with the building coverage requirements for the zoning district.
(6) Height. The maximum height for accessory buildings shall be 20 feet. The exterior side wall height shall not exceed 14 feet. The height shall be measured from grade, and shall include the foundation or retaining walls.
(7) Separation from Other Buildings. No accessory building shall be placed within ten feet of any other building on its own property or any adjacent properties unless it meets applicable separation requirements of the City’s Fire Code.
(8) Attached Accessory Buildings. Any accessory building physically attached to the principal building shall be considered part of the principal building and subject to the development regulations of its zoning district.
(9) Effect on Adjacent Properties. If an adjacent lot is built upon, the accessory building must be entirely to the rear of the front building line of any principal building on such adjacent lot. No accessory building shall damage adjacent property by obstructing views, inhibiting solar access, or hindering ventilation.
(10) Hazards. Any accessory use which creates a potential fire hazard shall be located a minimum of ten feet from any residential structure. Such uses include but are not limited to detached fireplaces, barbecue ovens, or storage of flammable materials.
(11) No accessory building shall be built upon any lot until construction of the principal building has begun.
G. Lampposts with a maximum height of 10 feet and flag poles up to a maximum height of 25 feet may be located within required yards, provided they are set back at least 5 feet from property lines.
3. Setback Adjustments.
A. Setbacks on Built-Up Blockfaces. These provisions apply if 40 percent or more of the buildings on that blockface have front yard setbacks different from those required for the specific district.
(1) If a building is to be built on a parcel of land within 100 feet of existing buildings on both sides, the minimum front yard shall be the mean setbacks of the adjacent buildings.
(2) If a building is to be built on a parcel of land within 100 feet of an existing building on one side only, the minimum front yard shall be the setback of the adjacent building.
(3) If a building is to be built on a parcel of land not within 100 feet of an existing building on either side, then the minimum front yard shall be the mean setback of all existing buildings on the blockface.
(4) No setback adjustment pursuant to this section shall create a required front yard setback more than five feet greater than that otherwise required by the applicable zoning district.
B. Corner Lots. Required setbacks shall not reduce the buildable width of any corner lot to less than 24 feet. Appropriate setback adjustments shall be allowed to maintain this minimum width.
4. Rear Yard Exceptions – Residential Uses. When an irregular lot is used for residential purposes, the rear yard may be measured as the average horizontal distance between the building and rear lot line, provided that the minimum setback shall not be less than 60 percent of the rear yard required by the zoning district.
5. Double Frontage Lots. Residentially zoned double frontage lots on a major street, and with no access to that street, may have a 25-foot minimum front yard setback along said street. All other double frontage lots must provide full front yard setbacks from each adjacent street.
6. Satellite Antennas.
A. Antennas with a surface area over 6.3 square feet which are accessory to a primary use and are designed to receive and transmit electromagnetic signals, or to receive signals from satellites, shall not be located within any front yard of the primary use.
B. Such antennas shall be located no less than 15 feet from the property line of an adjacent property within a residential zoning district.
7. Vision Clearance Zones. No structure, including a fence, shall be built to a height of more than three feet above the established curb grade on the part of the lot bounded by the street lines of the streets which intersect and a line connecting a point on each of such lines 40 feet from their point of intersection. No landscaping shall be planted in such area which will materially obstruct the view of drivers approaching the street intersection.