Graham County to Consider ADU Zoning Change; County Proposes 1,500-sq.-ft. Cap

Unidentified Speaker 1 said the Board of Supervisors would consider an ordinance amending the Graham County zoning ordinance to add provisions regulating accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in order to comply with a cited state House Bill.

Unidentified Speaker 3 said the county—s draft largely follows the state law but includes one local exception on unit size. "The law said you had to allow up to 1,000 square feet. It's at 1,500 right now, and my thought behind that was we would prefer less of them and larger than more of them and smaller," S3 said. S3 added that allowing larger units is intended to create fewer ADUs per lot; while the state standard could allow up to three ADUs on an acre, county staff expressed concern that sewer capacity on many parcels would not support that level of development.

The board set the ordinance for the next meeting so the item can be formally heard and adopted. S3 noted urgency: the ordinance must be heard for the board to act by the first of the year, and the timeline is tight — S3 said the county was likely to miss the statutory deadline by about five days.

What the draft would change: according to the discussion, the county ordinance would add ADU allowances consistent with the state mandate but raise the local maximum ADU size from 1,000 to 1,500 square feet. Staff said the larger size is a local policy choice intended to reduce the overall number of ADUs where infrastructure (notably sewer) could be a limiting factor. The packet provided to supervisors was described as brief ("two, two and a half pages").

Next steps: the ordinance item is scheduled for the board—s next meeting for public hearing and potential adoption. No final vote on the ordinance was taken at this session.