Our Recommendations For Reducing Austin’s Front Building Setbacks
For all single-family and 2-3 unit lots:
Reduce minimum front setback requirements to 10 feet
Allow covered porches that are open on 3 sides to encroach 5 feet into the 10 foot front setback
Apply front yard impervious cover limitations only to parking, not covered porches or walkways
Reduce minimum front setbacks to 5 feet for developments of three or more small lots in a row
Let’s explore each recommendation…
1. Reduce minimum front setback requirements to 10 feet
Studies show 10 foot deep front yards are a sweet spot in encouraging neighborly interactions, when desired.
On the other hand, while 15 and 25 foot-deep front yards consume much more space, there is no evidence such yards function any better as social spaces or have any other benefits.
“Where front yards are too deep, conversations cannot get started. Surveys in Australia, Canada, and Denmark have demonstrated that a distance of 10 feet appears to be very useful in this particular context.”
- Jan Gehl, Life Between Buildings
10 feet also makes it easier to subdivide properties and add housing
Austin’s “HOME” initiative plans to allow single-family home lots over 5,750 sq ft to be subdivided into three smaller lots. However, to make this work, smaller front setbacks than the current staff proposal of 15’ will be crucial. A 10’ setback will address issues such as preserving our urban tree canopy, and front and side lot lines and setbacks switching as a result of a subdivision, which would potentially put proposed homes out of compliance.
2. Allow covered porches that are open on 3 sides to encroach 5 feet into the 10 foot front setback
Allowing porches to encroach 5 feet into the proposed 10 foot minimum front setback will:
Encourage social interactions. A typical porch is 6-10 feet deep, so the porch should be able to come 5 feet forward so that at least part of the porch is within the 10 foot range for facilitating social interactions.
Encourage more porches. When building a house, every foot counts. Relaxing front setback minimums for porches will make residents more likely to add a front porch to their home.
Note: Recessed porches would not be allowed to encroach into the setback. See here for examples.
3. Apply front yard impervious cover limitations only to parking, not covered porches or walkways
We should be doing everything we can to encourage front porches
Front yard impervious cover limitations are intended to discourage parking and shouldn’t get in the way of installing covered porches.
Note: Front yard impervious cover restrictions should also not apply to visitable entries for people with disabilities.