Feedback to be solicited on snout houses in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — City officials plan to broach 'possible solutions' to limit the proliferation of a housing style where the garage door protrudes in front.

Opinions will be sought from developers, property owners and Cedar Rapids residents.

Encouraging more alleyways, side-entry garages, and restricting how much a garage can overtake a front yard are among nine possible solutions identified by a consultant to restrict so-called 'snout houses.'

'I don't think any of us are talking about banning snout houses,' Ann Poe, chairwoman of the Cedar Rapids development committee, said during a meeting about the matter Wednesday. 'We need to be open to the discussion. We need to listen to what the people in our community think.'

The 'snout house' topic surfaced as part of work for a sweeping zoning code update, which is being aided by SAFEbuilt, a consultant based in Loveland, Colo.

Some residents and city leaders have pushed back on the protruding garage style, saying the look is unwelcoming and unattractive. Builders, though, point out the style provides more home for less money, and others say the city should butt out of discussions about home aesthetics.

'It is very difficult to find something other than a garage-forward plan unless you are looking at huge plans that cost a lot,' Drew Retz a local builder and former president of the Iowa Homebuilder's Association, said by email. 'Much more than any affordable style that most builders and buyers want in our local market.'

Retz, who was not at the meeting, noted some view the term snout house as 'offensive.'

Reincorporating alleyways, which would provide access for a garage in the back, could be part of the solution.

The Peninsula Neighborhood in Iowa City is an example of a newer development with an urban feel where rear alleyways allow porches, windows and front doors to be front and center.

'It is something we are definitely looking at because there is a movement back to that sort of traditional neighborhood,' said Jennifer Pratt, city development director. 'If there's a market for that type of neighborhood — that's walkable and that could have some mixed use — we have to also figure out if that is something we'd want to allow in certain places in the city, and is it also something we can serve from a public service.'

The community will have an opportunity to weigh in about protruding garages and other design and function elements, such as sign pole restrictions on Mount Vernon Road and whether new developments should have alleyways. Those also are tied to the zoning code update.

'Signs and snout houses are the first of many issues we will be exploring and addressing as part of Rezone Cedar Rapids,' said Anne Russett, a city planner.

The first of a series of public forums on the zoning topics are being planned for February or March, and city staff will meet with developers and property owners she said. The City Council ultimately will have to approve changes to the zoning code, perhaps in November.

'When we do these kinds of policy decisions, we are not just doing this for now,' council member Poe said. 'We are doing this for the future development of our city.'

The full list of possible solutions include:

— Forbid the garage from protruding beyond the front of the house.

— Require a garage to take up no more than 50 percent of the front of a house.

— Allow side-entry garages

— Limit the number of contiguous garage doors to two with the third separated by a column.

— Require a garage to have similar architectural elements as the home.

— Reduce front yard setbacks.

— Allow homes with detached rear garages to encroach on the minimum front setbacks.

— Encourage or require alley access.

— Require a mix of garage types in new developments, such as recessed, side-entry or detached.

l Comments: (319) 339-3177; brian.morelli@thegazette.com