By Tom Henderson • Staff Writer • 

Easing of rules is urged for accessory dwellings

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Comments

Robert

I strongly support the easing of the restrictions on ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units), especially the requirement to have separate sewer, water and electric hook-ups. That requirement made it almost impossible for us to create a separate apartment in our fairly large house for my mother-in-law in 2015. It would of required us to completely rewire and re-plumb our house to meet that rule alone. Therefore, it was necessary for us to build a separate building on our property. However, due to that utility rule it became clear that we might as well build a full-size home rather than an ADU. Since the cost difference between the two was so small, when you factored in the requirement to have separate sewer, water and electric. The requirement for separate utilities alone added over $40,000 to cost of the building project. Without the requirement for separate utilities we would have been able to build a pleasant safe affordable apartment for around 50 percent less than the house we ended up building due to the present housing regulations. Also, we would have knocked 4-6 months off the process of getting approval for the planning department with more reasonable requirements.

The irony of the situation is that, our house is on a large lot in a R-4 multi-family dwelling zone. And it would have been quicker and easier to get approval take down our house and put in small apartment complex than to build a small home for my mother-in-law. However, I did not want to make enemies with my 6 adjoining neighbours by completely changing the character of our neighbourhood.

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