After resident complaint, council asks staff to review ADU and guest‑house rules

Council directed staff to begin a focused review of accessory dwelling unit (ADU) and guest‑house regulations after a council member flagged a enforcement case involving an existing ADU.

Councilmember Holden described a resident’s concern about an external ADU that the resident said existed when she purchased her property and that under current rules the unit could be required to be demolished and rebuilt to comply. Holden asked staff to examine whether ADU and guest‑house rules should be reconciled so regulations better reflect current policy goals such as sustainability and affordability.

City staff and the police chief said the specific case originated as a neighborhood dispute (a barking‑dog complaint) and emphasized caution about strong enforcement actions in neighbor disputes. Staff spelled out options: a council‑initiated text amendment, staff‑initiated review, or allowing third‑party applicants to pursue text amendments through the regular process. The consensus next step was for staff to do targeted research and return with recommendations and likely code‑change options.

Mike Johnson noted reconciling guest houses and ADUs would likely require easing some setback and use limits (he described accessory‑building setback standards as 3–5 feet in some contexts) and acknowledged that making substantial changes could open many properties to ADU conversion, which has tradeoffs the council will need to weigh.

Next steps: council members asked staff to research approaches (including examples from larger cities such as Salt Lake City), prioritize fixes that are low‑barrier to implement, and return with recommendations for potential text amendments or a scope for a larger code overhaul.