Committee weighs easing ADU lot-size, downtown size limits to expand housing options

Shane Aguirre, assistant director of plan services, updated the Community and Economic Development Committee on the city's accessory dwelling unit (ADU) regulations and urged members to consider loosening the biggest constraints on construction.

"ADUs we we adopted those ADUs to help expand housing choice while protecting the neighborhood character," Aguirre said, summarizing current rules adopted in December 2023.

The ordinance allows one ADU per single-family lot (attached, internal or detached) and sets development standards: a maximum of 1,000 square feet or 50% of the principal structure (whichever is less), a downtown cap of 500 square feet for lots under 15,000 square feet, a two-bedroom limit, an owner-occupancy requirement for one of the dwellings, off-street parking and a prohibition on short-term rentals.

Aguirre told the committee the city has seen limited uptake since adoption: "Since 2023, we've seen 2 ADUs make it through the process," including one large 1,900-square-foot ADU that required a Planned Development Process (PDP) and a garage conversion.

Committee members repeatedly raised the half-acre minimum lot-size outside downtown as the primary barrier. "So we're basically with the half-acre requirement just prohibiting them on the vast majority of just normally platted lots," one committee member said, noting typical lot sizes downtown are far smaller than a half acre.

Members pressed staff for data on how many existing lots fall below the half-acre threshold and asked whether a smaller lot-size minimum or a streamlined variance process would yield more ADUs. Aguirre said staff can pull current lot-size distributions and revisit best practices from neighboring communities, and recommended investigating preapproved ADU plans to reduce cost and complexity.

The committee also discussed homeowners associations (HOAs). Aguirre said HOAs can impose restrictions that are more restrictive than city code, and that preempting HOA restrictions would be a "nuclear option" that some municipalities use but that the city has not pursued locally.

On process, members suggested streamlining approvals, improving outreach so residents know about the option and the variance process, and considering preapproved, lower-cost plans to make ADUs more feasible for typical homeowners.

At the end of the discussion staff recorded direction to research: the half-acre minimum outside downtown, the 15,000-square-foot downtown threshold and the potential use of preapproved plans, and return with data and communication recommendations.

What's next: staff will gather lot-size data, best-practice examples from peer cities and options for process changes and report back to the committee for potential ordinance amendments or administrative adjustments.