A building permit is required for all carports in unincorporated Pierce County regardless of size, and carports must meet Title 18A accessory-structure setbacks and the 3-foot minimum setback under PCC 18A.37.020.
In unincorporated Pierce County a building permit is required for all carports regardless of size; a carport is a residential accessory structure open on at least two sides. Carports fall under the accessory-structure rules in PCC 18A.37.020 and the setback and height standards in PCC 18A.15.040. Detached single-story accessory structures, other than ADUs, must maintain a minimum 3-foot setback and may occupy up to 50 percent of a rear yard or 25 percent of an interior yard. Because open structures use the roof plus projections to compute floor area, an oversized carport can count toward the 2,000-square-foot accessory-structure cap on lots under 1 acre. Pierce County publishes a Predesigned Carport Guide for qualifying projects.
Building a carport without the required permit, or placing it inside a required setback, can result in code enforcement, permit-after-the-fact fees, or an order to relocate or remove the structure.
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