As popularity of small backyard homes grows, Bellingham council looking at these rules
Bellingham officials will consider easing construction rules for granny flats and carriage houses in residential neighborhoods because homeowners, spurred by recent zoning changes, have shown considerable interest in building them.
Those new rules could make the application process cheaper and easier, end the owner-occupancy and parking requirements, and raise current height limits.
In 2018, the city changed its ordinance to allow “accessory dwelling units,” which are known as ADUs, both attached and separate from the main housing in all residential neighborhoods, with some restrictions.
“We went from an average of reviewing an ADU permit once every two months to now we’re doing about one a week. It’s been a very popular program,” said Greg Aucutt of the Planning and Community Development Department.
It was thought that allowing small backyard homes and apartments over garages could help ease the city’s housing crisis at a time when the vacancy rate was near zero amid rising rents, home prices and homelessness.
That ordinance required a review if certain conditions were met, including approval of 25 detached accessory dwelling units in a single neighborhood, and that mark was recently reached, Aucutt said at a meeting of the City Council’s Planning Committee on July 26.
A total of 154 accessory dwelling units have been approved since 2018, he said.
Most new permits were issued in single-family neighborhoods — especially Columbia, Cornwall Park, Sunnyland and Lettered Streets, he said.
Aucutt said he’d like the council to examine the accessory dwelling unit review process and also make changes to align with recent state law.
“It’s a lengthy process and it’s a little daunting for homeowners,” he said. “Most of the folks who are building ADUs are just property owners, they’re not developers.”
A revised ordinance could be ready by fall for Planning Commission review and City Council consideration.
Councilman Dan Hammill said he lives in the Sunnyland neighborhood, where accessory dwelling unit applications are the highest.
“We know that from the Department of Commence every time a community’s rents go up by $100, homelessness rises by 6%, and we’re bearing witness to that now,” Hammill said at the committee meeting.
“I’d like to make it as easy as possible, when it makes sense, for an owner to convert a mother-in-law or a carriage house or any other type of accessory dwelling unit into an ADU,” Hammill said.
“We need housing. This is timely and it’s very important,’ Hammill said.
Councilwoman Lisa Anderson said she’d like to hear from homeowners, especially those whose yards were shaded by new buildings in neighborhoods with smaller lots.
Anderson said she’s particularly concerned about ending the owner-occupation rule and eliminating a parking requirement.
“I live in a very dense area, where we don’t have limits on how many people are in a house, and next door to me they wiped out their front lawn to fit the 10 cars there from the residents,” she said. “Not all neighborhoods can sustain no parking requirements.”
Anderson said she favored a suggestion from Hammill that would require the rent to be capped at 80% of the area’s median income as a way of providing what they called workforce housing.
“I’m into exploring any options that strengthen this program and make it more accessible and affordable,” said Councilwoman Hollie Huthman.
