A Bit of a Mess

Part I of III

“You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, put in the light of wrongs it would and and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.”

- Lyndon B. Johnson

This one's a problem. And it's gonna take three columns to walk through the issues and potential solutions, so settle in.

This year the legislature passed a bill, which the governor signed, creating Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) for homeowner associations and condominium associations.

Ostensibly this was done to help ease a housing crunch both for blue collar workers such as plumbers, electricians, construction workers, bartenders, other restaurant workers, bus drivers, and daycare workers, being priced out of rental units in and around towns where they work, and for family members who want to care for an aging family member but who don't have room in their home or whose parent wants a degree of separation.

But upon closer look it doesn't actually do that.

Here's the summary:

• In any single-family zoning area, a municipality now has to allow (at least) one ADU per home.

• If a town does not have an ordinance on ADUs, then it has to automatically allow at least one ADU per single-family “Lot". If there is such an ordinance it can allow more than one ADU per Lot.

• The municipality can require that there be an interior door linking the unit, i.e the home, and the ADU, but does not have to do so. It can be attached or detached from the single-family home. Local laws could allow an ADU above an attached garage or in the garage, or on a separate Lot, or perhaps the common area of a condominium association.

• The town can require off street parking; if not, the tenant can park on the street.

• The property owner has to demonstrate adequate water supply.

• The municipality can require the owner to get a new septic system unless the current one meets DES standards for the home and the addition of the ADU.

  • If on municipal sewage, then it's fine.

• The town may, but does not have to, require owner occupancy of one of the units.

• Does not have to be limited to family members.

• Can be limited to 2 bedrooms, but cannot be limited to one, so the owner gets to decide.

• Cannot require it to be less than 950 s.f., though the owner can make it smaller than that.

So, let's see how the might work in condominium associations.

First, if a municipality does nothing, and has no ADU ordinance, then ADUs are, by default, allowed one per single-family home, which of course, every condominium unit is. It does not say for instance, every single family Lot; just every single family residence. A condominium association can fight this, more on that in a subsequent article, but not an HOA as every home is on a separate Lot. So it's open season for ADUs in HOAs, ASAP, OMG.

But condominium associations usually don't have one unit per lot of course, and in such cases with “townhouse” associations, which would be condominium units side by side with more than one floor, a municipality can ban them. However, again, if there is no such ordinance (and right now there aren't any), anyone can add an ADU to a townhouse unit.

I've reached my word limit for this article, so more, much more, next time, and the time after that including some ways to address the issues noted.