The Town of James Island Planning Commission on Oct. 9 voted to approve proposed amendments to the town’s Zoning and Land Development Regulations (ZLDR) that create a registration and grandfathering process for accessory dwelling units, and will forward the amendments to the Town Council for a first reading on Oct. 16 and a second reading and public hearing at council’s November meeting.

Planning director Kristen Crane told the commission that the amendments are intended to bring existing ADUs into compliance and address safety concerns. “So in the town, we currently have ADUs that are built and sitting on properties too small under our current code to be allowed... So that’s what this is, is an effort to grandfather those situations that are already in existence in the town,” Crane said. She explained that owners of ADUs built before the town’s incorporation in October 2012 who can provide paperwork showing the unit was legal at the time would be grandfathered; owners who cannot produce documentation would have a path under the ordinance to register and seek grandfathering.

A resident who spoke during public comment raised questions about how the proposed language could affect attachments and remodeling in existing houses and whether ADUs under the same roof would be treated the same as exterior units. “My biggest concern... is that verbiage is gonna be put into the ordinance, and then it affects homes that have such parcels a part of the home under the same roof already versus an exterior unit,” said John Peters, who identified his address for the record as 1301 Hampshire Road.

Commissioners asked staff to clarify specific definitions in the draft. One commissioner asked whether the word “separate” requires a physical separation such as a door or a heated connection, and whether a covered but unheated breezeway would count as detached; another asked whether a space without a kitchen or shower would be considered an ADU. Crane and staff answered that the ordinance sets out criteria intended to distinguish attached from detached units and to address habitability features, and that staff would work with applicants to clarify whether a particular unit meets the new rules.

Crane said the ordinance aims to remove longstanding noncompliance by making it possible for owners to come forward: “...they will come out of the darkness of, you know, being an out of compliance, and they will they will bring this to us. We will work with them to bring their bring them up to code and and have them be safe because we don't want these ADUs that are not up to code electrically or plumbing wise or anything else.”

The commission adopted the proposed amendments as presented and voted unanimously to forward the ordinance language to Town Council for its readings. The planning commission’s next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 13, 2025.

The amendments would apply to accessory dwelling units within the Town of James Island, and create a formal registration/application process and a grandfathering route for ADUs built before Oct. 2012; the ordinance language as drafted permits proof of prior legality (for example, county permits or other paperwork) to qualify for grandfathering and contemplates a review and remediation process for units found unsafe or noncompliant.