Porch swings. Picket fences. Homeowners associations. Among the tropes often associated with quiet, suburban neighborhoods, the concept of an enclosed garage seemed like a given for some attendees of the Guadalupe City Council’s May 12 meeting.
Against the wishes of a local developer, however, the council decided that evening to approve his new 15-unit single-family housing project under the condition that he replace his initial designs for accompanying garages with covered carports.
“It wouldn’t give you that family feel that we’re shooting for,” developer Gilbert Gonzales argued at the hearing. “We didn’t go crazy on this place. It’s only 15 units. I think it’d be more secure and more beautiful [with garages]. If you have kids living in that place, you would want garages there.”
While both the council and city staff complimented the project—set for a 3-acre site on Gularte Lane, with 15 proposed two-to-three-bedroom units—the council ultimately sided with staff’s recommendation to require carports.
“In some respects, the apartments have the attributes of condominiums, [as] each apartment has two levels,” the staff report states. “The applicant has expressed the intent to provide garage doors to enclose the covered parking. On one hand, staff concurs that the garage doors would likely improve the appearance of the units as well as enhance their desirability for future tenants.
“However,” the report added, “staff believes that enclosing the covered parking spaces with garage doors would encourage their usage as storage space, … resulting in more on-street parking.”
Before the council voted 5-0 to approve Gonzales’ design review permit with staff’s proposed carport caveat, the developer asked officials to reconsider the garage route.
“Accept it the way it is. Accept it with the garage doors,” Gonzales said. “I don’t want a bunch of loitering people hanging out down there, drinking beer in their carports and hanging out. That’s not the idea. … Put the garages in there and close them up, so someone can come home to their castle. That’s what I feel like my house is, where I live. I close that door off to everything out in the world and secure myself inside there. That’s the whole idea.”
Councilmember Amelia Villegas told Gonzales: “I understand what you’re saying in terms of having a garage to have more of a family feel—more of a ‘your house’ kind of a thing—but … not everybody uses a garage to park a car.”
“So, there’s the potential of having a lot of cars just parked in the general area,” Villegas continued. “So, if we were to take a vote and say carport or garage, I’m inclined to say a carport would be more appropriate for the area.”
Although Councilmember Eugene Costa Jr. was part of the 5-0 vote to move forward with the carports, he initially argued that on-street parking congestion will increase regardless of which option got the green light.
“I see it either way: Carport or garage, you’re still going to have cars parking on the street,” Costa said. “There’s no [way] around it. Families move in. With four or five people in the house, you have three, four cars. That’s like the norm now.”
This article appears in May 21 – May 28, 2026.