5.2 Auxiliary Dwelling Units - Mark Jurchen

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ADU "Hot Topics" As communities allow ADUs or update existing zoning codes and rules to be more ADU-friendly,they inevitably wrestle with some or all of the following issues: Adding ADUs to neighborhoods Providing places to park Recognizing that ADUs may represent a new housing ADU regulations often include off-street-parking type for existing neighborhoods,communities often minimums on top of what's already required for the write special rules to ensure they'll fit in well.These primary dwelling. Such rules can prevent homeowners guidelines typically address visual compatibility with from building ADUs if there's insufficient space for added the primary dwelling,appearance from the street (if parking. However,the extra parking often isn't needed. the ADU can be seen) and privacy for neighbors. Rules that help achieve these goals include: Studies of Portland,Oregon,and the San Francisco Bay area found that ADU households own an average • height and size caps mandating that ADUs be of 0.9 cars.That's half the national average of 1.8 cars shorter and smaller than the primary dwelling per household.With just over 2 percent of Portland • requirements that detached ADUs be behind the homes having an ADU (the highest percentage of any main house or a minimum distance from the street large city in the country),there's roughly one extra • mandates that the design and location of detached car parked on the street every six blocks.This suggests ADUs be managed the same way as other detached that,even in booming ADU cities,any impact on street structures (e.g.,garages) on the lot parking from ADUs is likely to be very small and • design standards for larger or two-story ADUs so dispersed. More realistic parking rules might: they architecturally match the primary dwelling or • require the creation of new parking only if the ADU reflect and complement neighborhood aesthetics displaces the primary dwelling's existing parking • encouragement for the creation of internal ADUs, • waive off-street-parking requirements at locations which are often unnoticeable from the street within walking distance of transit Each community can strike its own unique balance • allow parking requirements for the house and ADU between strict rules to ensure that ADUs have a to be met by using a combination of off-street minimal impact on neighborhoods and more flexible parking,curb parking and tandem (one car in front rules that make them easier to build. of the other) parking in a driveway ,. Dealing with unpermitted ADUs r .a-- i.. It's not uncommon for homeowners to convert a — portion of their residence into an ADU in violation i i...—....._- 5a. (knowingly or not) of zoninglaws or without permits.== `— — T Such illegal ADUs are common in cities with ti ht :� are i g g " . "7-1710 ■ ti it housing markets and a history of ADU bans. One example is New York City,which gained 114,000 = - . . apartments between 1990 and 2000 that aren't reflected in certificates of occupancy or by safety ^• IU inspections. Sadly,in 2021,several city residents living i' .. .. :tiir"' x .__.---:---_—=-..-....4,•— "'''. in unsafe basement apartments drowned in their o •++> _ ,y!� °:, homes due to flooding caused by Hurricane Ida. m AProvidence,Rhode Island,has many homes that were Some cities have found that legalizing ADUs,simplifying built as or long-ago converted into multidwelling units. ADU rules and/or waiving fees can be effective at o (Notice the two front doors.)A homeowner can live in one getting the owners of illegal housing units to"go legit" apartment while renting out the other. —and address safety problems in the process. . 16 AARP I The ABCs of ADUs