The City of Reno on Wednesday moved closer to allowing accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in some neighborhoods, a step City Council members believe can help to increase housing options. Council members provided staff with suggestions on crafting an ordinance that would allow these small, independent housing structures—sometimes called granny flats—on single-family lots.
The council discussion follows a presentation in March, during which council members heard the results of a community survey on ADUs. The majority of those who responded, 68%, said they favored allowing ADUs, but some said they would like to see them restricted to specific neighborhoods and wanted to ensure adequate parking.
City staff made several recommendations for development standards to include ADUs in neighborhoods. They recommended keeping ADU standards similar or identical to accessory structure and guest quarter standards, which they said are already “robust” within the current municipal code.
They also suggested allowing one off-street parking space per ADU, which is consistent with general parking standards. Other recommendations include limiting the number of ADUs to one per lot and creating zoning districts where ADUs will be allowed. The suggestion is to allow ADUs to be built where detached single-family homes are already allowed.
In addition, ADUs are suggested to be 29 feet or no taller than the primary structure, whichever is less.
Council member Devon Reese said he felt this may be restrictive, and having to go through a special permitting process for an ADU instead of allowing them by-right would go against the intent of allowing ADUs in the first place.
Council member Naomi Duerr suggested removing communities that disallow ADUs from the city’s approved zoning districts. However, Council member Kathleen Taylor, who served on the city’s planning commission, clarified that even if this ordinance passes, residents would still need to adhere to the rules of their homeowners’ association or neighborhood CC&Rs.
Council member Jenny Brekhus, who has expertise in city planning, also provided several suggestions. She said the city may want to change the code restrictions that limit the design standards for ADUs. Currently, guest houses have to match the design standards of the primary residence. However, Brekhus said the code should be opened to allow more modern buildings that may be more energy efficient but wouldn’t necessarily match the primary residence.
Based on another one of Brekhus’s comments, city development specialist Grace Mackedon said the city could create a checkbox form that permit-seekers would fill out to attest that their property does not have HOA or CC&R restrictions on ADUs or that the property deed is restricted to disallow ADUs.
Staff said a draft ordinance should be completed this winter based on council input. The ordinance will then be presented at Neighborhood Advisory Board and community meetings at the beginning of the new year.
“The most important part of this process is community outreach,” Mackedon said.
The ordinance could be before the Planning Commission by the spring of 2025 before returning to the city council in the summer of 2025 when it could be adopted.
While the regulation of short-term rentals (such as Airbnb and VRBO) has been discussed in conjunction with ADUs, Mackedon recommended that the council tackle short-term rentals separately following a comprehensive review. Schieve agreed, stating it’s a completely different dynamic than housing and should not be included.
