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Planning commission endorses four pre‑approved ADU designs, asks for garage tweaks
Summary
The commission recommended four pre‑approved ADU plans — studio, one‑bedroom, two‑bedroom and garage+ADU — for City Council consideration and asked staff to add a tandem garage option and change the preferred garage plan to a single garage door.
The Planning Commission recommended City Council accept four pre‑approved accessory dwelling unit (ADU) designs and asked staff to forward two design refinements: an alternative tandem garage layout to reduce driveway coverage and a revision to the garage option to use a single garage door rather than double doors.
Housing planner Crystal Plottner and Workbench architect Libby Barnes presented the city‑funded ADU program. The city directed an RFP in March 2024 to procure a consultant to prepare plan‑check‑ready ADU templates; Workbench was selected and prepared multiple concepts sized to fit the city’s typical lot constraints (an 800‑square‑foot footprint or smaller was the program target). The firm proposed four final plan types: a compact studio, a one‑bedroom (with optional loft), a two‑bedroom with articulated roof to admit clear‑story light, and a two‑car garage with an upper ADU.
Staff said the plan package will include full architectural, structural and mechanical construction documents and site‑plan templates that homeowners can use for faster permitting; Workbench will produce the construction documents for the four plans once council approves the selected designs. Commissioners praised the program as a useful tool to reduce ADU permitting time and cost, and they discussed parking, accessibility, internal versus external stairs, and how foundation and sloped lots will be addressed. Commissioners asked that staff explore a tandem‑garage configuration (two cars parked one behind the other) for some lots to reduce driveway coverage and requested that the preferred garage ADU be revised to a single garage door to improve maneuvering and reduce driveway width.
The commission passed a motion accepting the staff recommendations with those two additions and will forward the recommended designs and the two requested adjustments to City Council for final approval. Workbench representatives confirmed they can provide the construction documents and can do custom design work for homeowners outside of the contract if a homeowner separately hires the firm, but those customizations would return to a full plan check process and would not remain in the pre‑approved set.
