Cottage Amnesty

I know of at least one “garage” that was built really as a residence with an obligatory garage door to satisfy the code officials that it wasn’t a backyard cottage. I’m sure there are many more in this city of high land prices and single family houses. I’d love to see the owner be able to remove the garage door and build a wall (losing much less heat), add a number and a mailbox, and stop hiding his backyard residents. Now that backyard cottages are being considered, maybe the city could allow these cottages to be brought under the new code. If nothing else, it would give us an idea of how many of these things really exist in our city.