Reno planning commission recommends ADU ordinance with 5,000-sq.-ft. lot minimum, one parking space and design rules

The City of Reno Planning Commission on Aug. 6 voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council adopt a draft accessory dwelling unit (ADU) ordinance that would allow ADUs citywide with standards for lot size, parking, height and design.

The commission’s recommendation applies a 5,000-square-foot minimum lot size (reduced from an earlier 9,000-square-foot proposal), requires one designated off-street parking space per ADU, carries design standards drawn from existing guest-house regulations (including similar roof pitch and exterior materials) and limits short-term rentals of ADUs to terms of 28 days or less, consistent with state law guidance cited by staff. Commissioner Williams moved the recommendation and Commissioner Bridal seconded; the motion carried unanimously.

The commission’s action follows more than two years of outreach and drafting. Grace Macadine, senior management analyst for the City of Reno, told commissioners the city began work on ADU regulations in 2023, conducted a January 2024 survey that drew more than 2,000 responses and presented earlier drafts to this commission and to city council. Macadine said the city and staff worked with the authors of Assembly Bill 396 (AB 396) after the bill’s passage to align local rules with the state law.

“AB 396 requires local jurisdictions to adopt an ADU ordinance by July 2026,” Macadine said in her presentation, and the draft before the commission was intended to meet the bill’s limits while preserving locally desired controls where state law allows them. She said the city sought to scale back more aggressive elements of the original bill language and to keep as much local guidance as state law permitted.

Key provis…