Pico Rivera, CA Accessory Structures: Garage Conversions (2026)

Section 18.19.020(D) applies its driveway standards to all development, and clause 4, Garage Conversions, requires that once a garage or carport is converted to another use, its existing driveway and approach must be removed and replaced with landscape screening as required by the Zoning Administrator, with a single exception for accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units. A parallel rule in the nonconforming-uses chapter, Section 18.07.050(B)(1)(a)(iii), addresses the same conversions on nonconforming single-family homes: a nonconforming house with a legally permitted one-car garage can add on or alter the home without meeting current parking standards so long as its driveway is widened under Chapter 18.19, but that flexibility disappears the moment a garage is converted, because garage conversions other than ADUs and JADUs "shall not be exempt from the parking regulations of this Title." Section 18.07.050(B)(1)(b) extends the same logic to driveways that no longer lead to a permitted garage or carport, requiring their removal unless the conversion is again an ADU or JADU.

Together the two sections mean a homeowner who turns a garage into a bedroom, office or other living space must still provide the off-street parking spaces Chapter 18.19 requires for the property, on top of removing the driveway apron and landscaping the space, and cannot simply keep the driveway in place and count the old garage floor as covered parking.