Agenda - Council - 03/28/1995 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I ! I I I I I i I I I I I Staff would suggest that the best policy is to clearly state in the accessory apartment permit that the homeowner acqepts all responsibility for the well and septic and indemnifies the City against any liability as a result of the issuance of the permit. To insure that 8ccessory apartments will not visually destroy the single family character of the neighborhood, the most common provision put in permits is that there shall be no creation of additional entrances on the front of the house. To prevent speculation and to insure that the appearance of tge structure will be maintained, a very common requirement in accessory apartment permits is that the owner of the home continue to reside in one of the units and must have resided in the home for 1~ specified amount of time previous to the application. Many apartmenl~ Ordinances attempt to specify maximum and minimum apartment sizes to ensure that the accessory apartment will be subordinate to the principal smacture. One approach is to set a minimum numt/er of square feet that applies to both units or to set a maximum percentage of the principal structure that will be consumed by the accessory apartment. Many times there is a maximum plac~ on. the number of bedrooms allowed in the rental unit. However, it may take a combination of Several of these approaches to give the flexibility necessary to deal equitably with the variety of house types in which accessory apartments may be installed. For example, a colonial-style h@me with equal floor areas upstairs and down may be difficult to convert into anything other than two units that are roughly equal in floor area. Staff would recommend the simple approach of deferring maximum and minimum apartment sizes in accordance with applicable regul~tions in the health, housing and building codes. It is important' toiunderstand that zoning for accessory apartments may not produce many accessory units. Installin~ an accessory apartment requires permit approval, remodeling, making design decisions, setting a rent level, deciding upon and finding financing, managing tenants and addressing tax in~.plications. The proposed ordinance is enclosed' for your review. Resource Matarials: AccessOry. Apartment Ordinance, City of Shoreview, Mn, August 19, 1985. Accessory Apartthent Ordingnce; City of Ithaca, New York, 1984. "Accessory Units - The Back Door Approach To Affordable Housing," Zoning News, American Planning Association, April 1992. Hare,Patrick, AcCessory At>artments - Usin~ Sumlus Space in Single Family Houses, American Planning Assoc{atic~n, 1981. - - - - Hare, Patrick and Danbury, John, "Accessory Units - An Increasing Source Of Affordable Housing,"!Publjc Management, September 1991. I I I RecommendatiOn: The Planning Commission has recommended that the City Council not legalize and regulate accessory apartm6nts and that when situations arise, they be handled on a case by case basis. That is basically what the City has been doing over the last two years. The Code does not provide for accessory apartments and when the situation arises, we process them as conditional use permits. For that reason, City Council tabled the last case that came before them, directed staff to research the issue and draft en ordinance that would establish criteria for considering accessory apartments. I