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REQUEST FOR COUNCIL DISCUSSION Item Description: Further discussion of accessory dwelling units 10 lame. 7/25/2011 ��791E City Mai]*ge'r Approval 11 1.0 BACKGROUND 2 At the regular City Council meeting on May 23, 2011, the City Council directed 3 Community Development staff to prepare an amendment to the zoning code which would 4 regulate accessory dwelling units (ADUs) as permitted uses (i.e., allowed with permits) 5 rather than as conditional or interim uses. The proposed amendments are shown in bold Qt_r_i I C-Atur-All " and text in Attachment A; please note, though, that the proposed 7 amendment doesn't presently illustrate the fact that all ADU language currently in 8 § 1009.02 (Conditional Uses) would be deleted as part of moving the ADU content to 9 §1011.12. ,i SOME NOTES ABOUT THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT 1111 2.1 ADUs have been discussed until now as being limited to 600 square feet. Initially, this 12 figure, which is really quite small for a 1-bedroom apartment, was chosen as a way to 13 practically limit the number of occupants. Since the current proposal includes a codified 14 limit of 2 occupants, holding to the small ADU size limitation becomes somewhat less 15 important. After some research, Planning Division staff feels that 650 square feet is a more moderate (though still small) size for a 1-bedroom unit, and so this is the unit size 1 7 that has been incorporated into the draft amendment. 18 2.2 The format of the ADU address suffix is really just suggested as a possibility, but it 119 attempts to address the desire to provide guidance for emergency responders and to 20 standardize the format. The proposal would inform emergency responders that an ADU A 21 is somewhere within the house structure, but not in the more obvious principal unit, 22 whereas an ADU B will be found in a detached building. Suggestions for other possible 23 address identifiers are welcome. 24 2.3 During its last discussion about ADUs, some members of the City Council expressed an 25 interest in limiting ADUs to LDR- I parcels which conformed to the minimum lot size 2() requirements. Such a limitation is not presently in the proposed draft because it would 2 7 effectively prohibit ADUs on the great majority (i.e., probably in excess of 75%) of 28 LDR- I parcels, and Planning Division staff has proceeded with the understanding that 29 the City Council desired to permit ADUs on a more general basis. 3o 3.0 ADU PERMIT FORM AND FEE 31 Planning Division staff has not yet had a chance to prepare the permit form or determine 32 a reasonable fee amount. More detail could be expected as this item moves toward the 33 public hearing and subsequent Council action, probably in late August. AD RC - 072511 Page 1 of 2