Council approves code changes to encourage ADUs, infill and flexible garage/porch design

The Common Council adopted a multi-part package of zoning changes on Feb. 25 designed to make it easier to build accessory dwelling units, modest infill housing and to give homeowners more flexibility in garage and porch design.

Supporters said the changes remove technical barriers that have made small-scale housing harder and more expensive to build, while staff said the package focuses on problems they see most often at the public counter.

Key changes in the adopted package include: raising certain ADU footprint allowances (detached ADUs permitted up to a 1,000-square-foot footprint to align with detached-garage limits, with attached additions similarly allowed up to 1,000 square feet); removing an internal cap on ADU bedrooms; allowing alternative configurations for small multi-unit homes (back-to-back and combined stacked/back-to-back layouts); clarifying attached-garage façade rules (garage doors limited to no more than 50% of a facade and allowed to project up to 4 feet forward of 50% of the facade instead of requiring a 2-foot recess); allowing open porches to encroach within 3 feet of a side property line in defined circumstances; and removing a separate “usable open space” requirement that had required a minimum private backyard footprint per unit in many districts.

Katie Bannon, city zoning administrator, told council members that the usable open space requirement had become a practical obstacle to small infill projects because private yard rules stacked on density, setback and stormwater limits left little to no feasible space for the required backyard area. “Two years into the TOD overlay, we’re not seeing any negative impacts,” Bannon said of removing the usable open-space rule in areas where transit-oriented development is expected. Planning staff recommended retaining other controls — setbacks, lot coverage and landscaping — while removing the prescriptive private-open-space rule.

Alder Evers successfully moved an amendment at the meeting to restore the existing 25-foot maximum height limit for ADUs rather than raising it to 30 feet; the body approved the amendment by unanimous vote and then adopted the package as amended by unanimous voice vote.

Developers, planning staff and neighborhood speakers largely supported the package as incremental, practical changes that can reduce permitting time and lower barriers for small-scale housing and ADUs. Several residents and commissioners asked staff to monitor tree canopy, stormwater and neighborhood character impacts to ensure the changes did not unintentionally shift development impacts to peripheral areas.

The Plan Commission had recommended approval and suggested increasing the maximum ADU height to 30 feet; council members rejected that specific change at the meeting and retained the 25-foot cap.

What’s next: Planning staff said they will update the zoning handouts and counter procedures to align with the ordinance changes and track ADU permit activity. Staff noted that only a handful of ADUs have been permitted in recent years, and that administrative changes and clearer code language were intended to make ADUs a more practical tool for neighborhood-scale housing growth.

The council recorded a unanimous vote in favor of the package as amended.