Juneau code proposal would limit garages and sheds to the size of the main home

A detached garage, shop or shed in Juneau could be no larger than the main home under a proposal a city advisory committee will discuss Wednesday, Oct. 28.

The Title 49 Advisory Ad Hoc Committee, which is helping rewrite Juneau's land-use code, meets at noon in the Assembly Chambers and on Zoom. The item is for discussion only, and no vote is scheduled.

Meeting materials offer the limits as "one starting point." An accessory use inside a building could take up no more than 49% of that building's floor area. A detached garage, shop or shed would be capped at 100% of the main home's size. Property owners could seek an administrative adjustment to exceed the caps. The materials also ask whether there should be height limits.

An accessory use is one that supports the main use on the same property and is clearly secondary to it. Examples in the materials range from a storage shed behind a home to a tasting room at a brewery. Title 49 now defines accessory use in one sentence and sets no rules on size, timing or how many a property can have.

Accessory dwelling units have their own separate standards. A 2025 ordinance allows attached or internal ADUs up to 1,000 square feet or 40% of the primary home's size, whichever is greater.

The committee will also take up temporary uses, which the code does not define. Under the draft framework, seasonal sales, special events and shipping containers in residential areas would need a temporary use permit. Garage sales and living in an RV while building a home would not. The materials ask: how long is too long?

This phase of the rewrite, called Phase 1.5, runs through December 2027. Assembly presentations, a Planning Commission public hearing and Assembly consideration come later, and those steps may overlap, according to the materials.