Agenda - Planning Commission - 04/05/2018

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EXAMPLES OF USE DEFINITIONS FOR MICRO APARTMENTS City State Use Definition Grand Rapids MI Micro -Unit: A dwelling unit, included as part of a multiunit development and located in a Mixed -Use Commercial zone district, with a total gross floor area of no more than 475 square feet. Hartford CT Efficiency/Micro-Unit: A dwelling unit with at least 30o square feet and no more than 50o square feet of usable floor area, and only one combined living and sleeping room. The unit may also have separate rooms containing only kitchen facilities or bathroom facilities. Miami FL Micro Dwelling Unit: A small Multifamily Residential Dwelling Unit type that shall include sanitary facilities and kitchen facilities. Oakland CA Micro Living Quarters: [O]ne or more rooms located in a multiple -tenant building having an average net floor area of175 square feet, but a minimum size of i5o square feet of net floor area, and occupied by a permanent residential activity. Bathroom facilities, which include toilet and sink, as well as shower and/or bathtub, are required to be located within each individual Micro Living Quarter. Cooking facilities are not allowed to be located within each individual Micro Living Quarter, and shared kitchen facilities are required within close proximity on the same building floor. Small Efficiency Dwelling Unit: [A] dwelling unit with an amount of square footage less than the minimum Seattle WA amounts specified for Efficiency Dwelling Units in the Seattle Building Code, and that meet the standards prescribed in §23.42.048. Springfield MO Micro -Efficiency Multifamily Dwelling Unit: A dwelling unit with a total floor area of400 square feet or less. West Palm Beach FL Micro -Unit: [A] small residential unit with a total square footage between 30o square feet and 549 square feet, with a fully functioning kitchen and bathroom. than what would otherwise be allowed by the local building code (otherwise, the standard would be pointless). Additionally, many zoning codes require a minimum lot area per dwelling unit for each zoning district. These minimum lot area requirements combine with required setbacks and maximum heights to create a minimum dwelling unit size that may vary lot by lot but is, again, virtually always more restrictive than habitable space require- ments in the local building code. Other zoning standards present indirect barriers to micro -apartment development. Min- imum off-street parking requirements increase per -unit development costs and set a practical limit on the amount of space developers can devote to dwelling units, as do minimum open space or common area requirements. And mul- tifamily development standards that stipulate a maximum percentage of efficiency units or a minimum average unit size make micro -apart- ment -only buildings impossible. ZONING STANDARDS FOR MICRO APARTMENTS The author has identified seven cities in the U.S. that define and regulate a use analogous to micro apartments in their zoning codes (see table above). While these jurisdictions are all principal cities of metropolitan statisti- cal areas, they are not similarly populous or dense. Based on the most recent American Community Survey estimates, all seven have a higher percentage of single -person households than the national average (28.1 percent). Five of the cities are growing at a rate faster than the national average (4.7 per- cent), have a higher percentage of crowded housing units than the national average (1.i percent), or have a higher percentage of highly rent -burdened households than the national average (40.7 percent). Use Definitions Defining micro apartments as a distinct use can be helpful if the community wants to single out these units for special zoning treatment. However, if micro apartments are subject to the same use permissions and development standards as other multifam- ily dwelling units (or other efficiency units), there is no clear benefit to adding a new defi- nition to the zoning code. While numerous popular press articles have spotlighted existing or planned micro - apartment projects in New York; Chicago; San Francisco; Seattle; Denver; Boston; Wash- ington, D.C.; Portland, Oregon; Providence, Rhode Island; and Chattanooga, Tennessee, only one currently defines micro apartments as a distinct land use. Seattle added a defini- tion and use -specific standards for "small efficiency dwelling units" in 2014 after devel- opers had already built several small-scale micro -apartment projects with shared kitchens (taking advantage of existing standards for congregate residences) in relatively low - density residential areas. In this case, the city moved to check an existing development trend. For other cities, the motivation seems to be to facilitate a type of development that was previously either explicitly prohibited or extremely impractical due to district -specific development standards. None of these cities use the term "micro apartment" in their codes, and there is no clear consensus alternative analogous term (see table below). Four define analogous terms —in part —based on a maximum size, and four define them —in part —based on a minimum size. Five require in -unit kitchens, and one prohibits in -unit kitchens. Three define analogous terms —in part —based on their location within specific zoning districts. Communities that want to define micro apartments as a distinct use should consider adding a simple modifier to an existing defined term in its zoning code (e.g., "dwelling unit, micro") and placing the new definition near the modified term in a section of generally applicable definitions ora section explaining use classification. This will help project appli- cants find the definition quickly. Ctarifythe distinguishing characteristics of the new use, but do not incorporate use permissions or use - specific standards into the definition. ZONINGPRACTICE 3.18 AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION ipageg