I'm a reverse commuter and we have two cars and a 1 year old, thus, a garage is an attractive option. I have been considering a "no garage design" but I'm trying to build exactly what I want - to live in, not resell. However, just keeping an eye on local real estate, doesn't it seem like anything with parking (other than condos) seems to sell a lot faster than homes without?

Just curious, are you building in the neighborhood? Investment or living?

Sorry, I completely misunderstood-I thought you were building to invest. If you are living there, then your preference is yours alone. You can go to the planning commission to appeal any ruling made against you, but its a long task, and personally I wouldn't want to deal with it.

I was initially building for an investment, but I am quite frankly sick of QVNA and the way a couple of people control every little bit of this neighborhood. My area of QV did end up getting exempted from the "conservation" legislation, but its just a matter of time before its effects become evident. I can certainly assure you that if someone like you has a choice between QV or your own 2car garage in another area, you'll choose another area. Not a problem with that-but such legislative strangleholds against personal property will eventually lead to less renovations, lower property values, and a decline in housing. Personally, I'm getting out while the gettin's good. I was building for an investment, but now I think we're going to make the move out of QV.

__________________
Peter Cetera:
Sometimes I just forget
Say things I might regret
It breaks my heart to see you crying

15' wide is wide enough to have a garage and a front door. There are some houses like this in the Art Museum area. Wider is of course easier to work with, but 15' would be a minimum. One I saw had a hallway that went around the back of the garage to a family room with stairs up from there. Another went straight up to the 2nd floor from the front door. There's lots of them that are 20' or so wide; here's a 16':
MLS ID# 5356734
http://www.realtor.com/search/listin...rcnt=68#Detail

This is contemporary and probably not appropriate for your area, but for layout at 16':
MLS ID# 5317893
http://www.realtor.com/search/listin...rcnt=68#Detail

Thanks for the info. but unfortunately the QVNA District guidelines require a habitable room on the first floor front. Meaning, their must also be a window in the front of the house that is at least 33% of the total frontage. Thus, in 15 ft. I have to fit a front door, a garage, and a 5 ft. wide window. I have found garage doors as slim as 7 ft. but that would still be a tight squeeze with the door and window. I'm thinking an architect could design something...ummm, any architects want to offer some free advice?

Uh, for the sake of saying **** the new rules, I would consider a foyer on the first floor to be a habitable room...I have a chair in mine and occasionally read there...whose to say an entrance isn't a foyer? If a foyer isn't a room then why was it on the clue board game?!?!?!

__________________
Peter Cetera:
Sometimes I just forget
Say things I might regret
It breaks my heart to see you crying

according to the city Property maintenance code of Phila. section 202, a habitable room does not include a foyer

wow. that's crazy. those boogers think of everything.

__________________
Peter Cetera:
Sometimes I just forget
Say things I might regret
It breaks my heart to see you crying

7' might not be code anyhow -- but it's really tight unless you drive a SmartCar or the like.

How do they define "1st Floor"? You could dig down for the garage like the 1st picture, and have a few steps up to the living quarters.

I was in a house that had outside steps up to the dining room; there were steps down to the garage level and 3 steps up to their kitchen. Living room was in the back and I think a few steps up from the dining room, so the dining room was "sunken." Kinda like a split-level in the 'burbs.

Or can you get a variance?

Going back to the original post, I'm not sure that you can get a demolition permit so easily any more. The Legislation authorizing the creation of NCDs specifically provides that the Planning Commission must grant approval before any demolition permit will be approved. (Of course, as has been pointed out to QVNA numerous times, nothing in the QVNCD guidelines restricts or deals with demolition).

The NCD authorizing legislation is here: http://www.qvna.org/committees/NCD-Legislation.pdf

__________________
---Shosh

Ugh. I forgot about that part of it. Thankyou for making the gloomies hurt more. I think that a jack and coke is callin' me.

__________________
Peter Cetera:
Sometimes I just forget
Say things I might regret
It breaks my heart to see you crying