Washington Terrace council declines to pursue converting single-family homes into two-family rentals

WASHINGTON TERRACE — The Washington Terrace City Council voted unanimously March 18 to stop efforts to send a potential code change to the Planning Commission that would have examined allowing conditional-use permits to convert single-family homes into two-family dwellings.

The council’s decision follows a detailed presentation from City building staff about safety and construction requirements for two-family conversions and staff recommendations that any conversion program would carry significant costs and regulatory complexity. Mayor Allen and council members cited fire safety, egress window sizes, interconnection of smoke detectors, separate heating/electrical systems, parking and impacts on neighboring properties as primary concerns.

The proposal under consideration grew out of a staff audit of rental and business licenses and the city’s moderate-income housing review. Building official Tyler summarized the audit and code implications: “It is a crisis in our state,” he told the council, and said staff had identified 72 properties that are legal nonconforming and 23 that staff had denied after review. He said the department suspected at least another 21 properties were being used as up-and-down rentals without formal applications. Tyler estimated the construction and code upgrades required to convert a typical older house to meet two-family code would range “anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000.”

Tyler walked the council through building-code requirements that apply when a single-family dwelling’s use changes, including a one-hour fire separation assembly (additional sheetrock), two separate means of egress, egress window size and sill-height limits (maximum 44 inches from the floor and minimum clear opening dimensions), interconnected smoke detectors, separate electrical disconnects/subpanels for each unit and separation of duct/heating systems. He warned that older homes commonly lack those features and that retrofitting them can be costly, including concrete cutting for new egress windows.

Council discussion focused on three linked concerns: safety, enforcement of the city’s existing code, and neighborhood impacts. Several council members said owner-occupied accessory dwelling units (which Utah law generally requires cities to allow when owner-occupied) are different from investor-owned up-and-down rentals, and that the city’s priority should be enforcing current rules for illegal conversions. One council member noted that the county’s assessor has already classified some properties as duplexes for taxation, but that many others still receive owner-occupied property-tax discounts.

Officials discussed policy options other cities have used, including a neighborhood-notification or approval letter used in Provo and overlay-style supplemental code that would permit conversions only under strict parameters (minimum lot size, parking minimums, spacing limits, and mandatory building upgrades). Tyler and staff said such an approach could be drafted, but would require further work with legal counsel and would not eliminate the substantial retrofit costs for owners.

After discussion, a council motion to not forward the item to the Planning Commission and to treat the council’s decision as final carried unanimously. The motion, mover and seconder were not recorded in the minutes; the minutes state simply that the motion passed on a unanimous voice vote. Council direction to staff was to continue enforcing existing code and follow up on confirmed illegal nonconforming rentals based on complaints.

The decision closes a preliminary city-level option to create a conditional-use pathway for investor-owned conversions but leaves open the possibility that an owner could pursue permits to bring a property up to current two-family building code at substantial expense. Staff said they would continue complaint-based enforcement and would not ask the Planning Commission to study the conversion allowance at this time.