Manhattan City Zoning Code
CHAPTER 18
TOWNHOUSE STANDARDS
10-18-1: BUILDING DESIGN STANDARDS:
A. Garage: Every townhouse dwelling unit shall have a minimum one (1) car garage.
B. Height Of Structure: Maximum height for any townhouse structure shall not be greater than the specific zoning district in which the townhouse is proposed.
C. Dwelling Unit Access: Each townhouse unit shall have two (2) separate entries from the ground on which the structure is erected.
D. Building Coverage: Building coverage shall be dictated by the zone that it is located in.
E. Street Frontage: Each townhouse project site shall border on a public street, except if they face private or common open areas.
F. Right-Of-Way Setback: Setbacks shall be dictated by the zone they are placed in.
G. Yard Requirements: Setbacks shall be dictated by the zone they are placed in.
H. Parking Spaces Required: Parking shall be in accordance with chapter 13.
I. Construction: All permanent off-street parking spaces and access areas thereto shall be paved. Temporary exemptions for access approaches from the property line to the street surface may be granted based on public street paving schedules established by the town. Individual unit parking spaces and/or townhouse site parking bay facilities shall be designed and constructed according to stipulations set forth in Chapter 13 of this Code.
1. A minimum distance of forty (40) feet shall be maintained between all curb cuts (centerlines). Not more than one (1) curb cut shall be permitted per two (2) townhouses.
2. In no case shall any curb cut be permitted which, in the opinions of the Town Engineer and Town Planner, may cause an unsafe or hazardous driving condition.
J. Maintenance Of Common Areas: All common areas and facilities including, but not limited to, recreational facilities, off-street parking and common open space shall be maintained in a satisfactory manner without expense to the general taxpayers of the Town. In order to ensure the maintenance of and the payment of taxes on the commonly held non-public property, a mandatory property owners association shall be created and be recorded in the public records of Gallatin County if satisfactory to the Town Council.
K. Accessory Buildings: No accessory building shall be erected in any required front yard or side yard setback area, and no separate accessory building shall be erected within ten (10) feet of any principal building. An accessory building shall not be located within ten (10) feet of the rear property line or occupy more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the rear yard area.
L. Utilities And Services: Each individual townhouse unit shall be connected to and serviced by public water and sewer lines, or connected to a sewer and water system that has been approved by the Montana Department of Health and Environmental Sciences. The water and sewer lines shall be independent of any other townhouse unit or structure.
1. Water service shall have curb stop and valve for each townhouse unit. Sewer lines shall have strategically placed "clean-outs" as required by the City Engineer.
2. Necessary easements shall be indicated and recorded on the townhouse plat and be of a width that is satisfactory to the Town Engineer.
3. All utility services shall be designed for subdivisions that are platted for townhouse development at the time of plat submittal. The Town Engineer and/or city utilities supervisor shall review said utility plans with any necessary recommendations.
4. Utility services shall be designed such that unnecessary disturbance of paved streets shall be avoided. (Ord. 20-001, 7-9-2020; amd. Ord. 25-001, 6-2-2025)
10-18-2: BUILDING DESIGN:
A. Townhomes should integrate repetition with variety. Long homogenous facades should not dominate; rather, the design tends to mimic, and be compatible in scale with, the variety usually found in single unit residential development.
B. Setback Variation. No more than two (2) abutting townhouses or townhouse groupings within the townhouse project site shall have a common front building setback. Variations in the setback of front building faces shall be at least two (2) feet. Height variations shall also be incorporated in townhouse design.
C. Townhouse clusters must employ all of the following repetition with variety guidelines:
1. Reversing the elevation of two (2) out of four (4) dwellings.
2. Providing different building elevations by changing the roofline, articulation, windows, and/or building modulation patterns.
3. Adding a different dwelling design or different scale of the same design, such as adding a one (1) story version of the basic dwelling design where two (2) stories are typical (or a two (2) story design where three (3) stories are typical). (Ord. 20-001, 7-9-2020; amd. Ord. 25-001, 6-2-2025)