Garage conversions OK’d with limits

They can become living spaces for family members.

The Round Rock City Council this week approved an ordinance amendment allowing homeowners to convert single-family home garages into living spaces for family members.

The updated ordinance allows garages to be converted into living spaces to accommodate in-laws, grandparents or a growing family.

City officials said the amendment is a less expensive alternative than homeowners having to build an additional structure to house family.

During a Jan. 14 meeting, council members stopped short of approving the ordinance amendment to allow more time to discuss a provision prohibiting additional washer and dryer hookups for single-family homes.

After further discussion, the city staff recommended revising the ordinance amendment based on council direction, said Brad Wiseman, director of planning and development services.

That led to the city staff removing the portion on prohibiting laundry hookups.

Wiseman said the ordinance prohibits adding an exterior door on a converted garage. If an already existing garage conversion has an exterior door, homeowners will have to remove it.

Per the ordinance, air conditioning units are not allowed to be installed in a wall facing a public street. But units can face a public street if they are placed in a window.

Mayor Alan McGraw thanked council members Frank Leffingwell and Craig Morgan on pushing the council to a “fair place” with the ordinance and using language that should prohibit homeowners from renting out the converted garages.

“The door is really the deal,” McGraw said. “To me that gets us where we ought to be. It’s the only thing we can really check to see if it’s been done, and it’s an easy solu- tion.”

Council Member Kris Whitfield asked if existing conversions will be grandfathered in and not have to change to meet new requirements.

Wiseman said existing conversions will have to meet the new standards.

The city will now start to identify all garages that have been converted without a permit over the years. The staff will contact the property owners and ask them to take part in an inspection for life-safety issues in the conversions.

Homeowners will have to fix any issues so the city can acknowledge that it is a legal conversion, Wiseman said.

If property owners try to sell their home, they will need to be able to verify from the city that their garage conversion is legal with a permit, he said.

Inspections for existing conversions would only address life-safety issues and not the aesthetics of a living space.