River Heights planners spend meeting revising draft ADU rules after state changes limit conditional permits

At the March 24 meeting the River Heights Planning Commission devoted the bulk of its time to revising a rough draft of new accessory dwelling unit (ADU) regulations intended to comply with recent state changes. The chair said the document on SharePoint was a preliminary, Excel-based draft intended to be cleaned up over several meetings.

Keenan Ryan summarized the approach: he said he had mapped items from the commission’s Excel tally (maximum ADU sizes, lot-size questions, height, occupancy and parking) into a draft code format and asked commissioners to look for "glaring miscues." Commissioners concentrated on a few recurring issues: whether the draft should address detached (external) and internal ADUs in separate sections; how to handle setbacks and unusual flag-lot situations; occupancy and bedroom limits; parking ratios tied to ADU square footage; utilities and septic capacity; and whether design language should require an ADU to "read visually" as a single-family property.

Members repeatedly noted that state law prevents municipalities from requiring conditional use permits for detached ADUs, so the commission must craft clear, objective standards rather than rely on discretionary CUP review. Suggestions included replacing a fixed 15-foot height limit with a cap tied to the primary residence’s height, clarifying front and side setbacks (some codes referenced 20 feet, others used 30), and specifying that utilities must be adequate for an ADU (sanitary sewer or septic capacity). Noel Cooley proposed a 36-month absence rule for owner-occupancy exceptions; others raised parking and occupancy language and whether to limit ADUs to one per zoning lot to prevent triplex conversions.

To move the draft forward the commission divided the document and assigned sections to members for redrafting (Annalisa: a–e; Noel: f–h; Troy: i–k; chair: l–o) and asked members to upload word-processed edits to SharePoint ahead of the next agenda deadline. Commissioners noted the state code’s anticipated effective date (discussed in the meeting as October 1) and emphasized the need to have a working draft published in advance so staff can review legal consistency before final action.

Why it matters: ADU regulations affect housing supply, neighborhood character, and residents’ ability to add secondary units. The commission’s work aims to implement the state’s direction to facilitate ADUs while setting clear, non-discretionary local standards.

What’s next: Commissioners will produce and upload revisions to SharePoint; staff will consolidate edits and bring a cleaned draft back to the commission for further review and potential adoption steps before the state provisions take effect.