aCcessory dwellng units in the east bay
Story by Joann Sullivan
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are small self-contained residential units built on the property of a single family home. They may be attached (an above the garage unit or a basement unit) or detached (granny flat, carriage flat, backyard cottage).
They limit suburban sprawl, provide new housing and can help homeowners financially. They enable seniors to remain in their own neighborhoods as they get older and help multigenerational families live close to one another affordably and to provide support for young children and elderly family members. They will also help homeowners afford their mortgage payments and provide housing for moderate income renters who cannot afford market rate or qualify for low income housing.
Last year, the California State legislature passed AB 2299 and SB1069 which went into effect on January 1, 2017, making it easier for homeowners to build ADUs on their property. A third law, AB2406, gives cities the option of creating “junior accessory dwelling units” which are units created within the house.
Cities must allow the ADUs “by right” with no public hearings and must issue permits within 120 days if the units meet the new state standards. Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito and Kensington have adopted their own standards based on the state laws. These new standards ease and/or eliminate the need for parking if the ADU meets certain requirements. Cities may specify the size and height of the ADUs. For Berkeley, the maximum size is 750 square feet; for Kensington, 640 square feet and for El Cerrito, 1200 square feet.
To assist in the rollout of the recently passed state ADU regulations, Berkeley city councilmember Ben Bartlett formed an ADU Task Force. Joann Sullivan, an Ashby Village founding leader/volunteer who set up and has continued to manage our “preferred provider” network for the last seven years, is on that task force, as well as other realtors, architects, planners, developers and mortgage specialists. Last spring, they met with the UC Chancellor to talk about how ADUs could help ease the faculty housing crisis at UC Berkeley. They agreed that ADUs could enable retired faculty and staff stay in their homes as they get older and could create additional options for new faculty members, graduate students and staff.
The cities are all also solidly behind the building of ADUs as one way to address our housing crisis. Most of the new housing built in the East Bay has been created by developers. ADUs are a grass roots effort to increase the housing supply which will benefit East Bay homeowners, rather than the big developers from out of town. Some homeowners build the units to house family members. Others use the ADUs to house caregivers or to provide income to help with mortgage expenses. The magic of ADUs is that they are flexible and can be used in many ways at different times.