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Background

You are the staff planner for a mid-sized (pop. 10,000) community in Oregon. The City Council made affordable housing a priority during their last goal setting session in November. As a part of that process, they requested that you and the Planning Commission review the current zoning code for approaches that limit development of affordable housing and changes that might allow development of more affordable housing.

During the last Planning Commission meeting, a Commissioner requested that you review the community’s policies on accessory dwelling units (sometimes called granny flats). Your review the literature and find a common definition is:

Accessory Housing Unit: An accessory housing unit is an additional residential dwelling unit located on a single tax lot with an existing dwelling unit in a residential zone.

Your review identified that the city has defined accessory dwelling units as follows:

Dwelling, Accessory: A dwelling unit attached to a commercial building and on the same lot as a commercial use in a commercial zone. (Article 30.020)

The intent of this definition is clear: to regulate residential units located in commercial areas. Examples might include residences associated with self-storage units, or other dwellings associated with commercial enterprises. It is also clear that the code does not allow accessory dwellings in residential zones.

The Assignment

The Commission asks you to analyze this issue in more detail. They pose several questions that are germane to writing an accessory ordinance:

• What is the purpose of such ordinances?
• What issues can we expect the public to be concerned with?
• What would be best zoning approach be (outright allowable use, conditional use, etc)?
• How would it be applied (certain residential zones, overlay zone, etc)

They ask you to write a 2-4 page memorandum summarizing your findings.

 Helpful Tips

Much of this assignment is a basic logic exercise. With a little thought you should be able to identify the key objectives and issues associated with accessory dwelling ordinances. However, thinking is no substitute for a good model. Many communities have their zoning ordinances online. You should visit the Cyburbia web site (http://www.cyburbia.org) and look up some example ordinances. You’ll find that many communities do not have accessory dwelling ordinances. With a little digging, you’ll also find plenty of information to answer the questions above.

If you have questions, please send them via e-mail to me (rgp@darkwing). The assignment is due in class on Tuesday, February 5.

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February 01, 2002