Atherton residents who want to create a legal small rental unit or guest house on their property will soon find it easier to do, thanks to new state laws that require easing of such regulations in an attempt to provide more affordable rental housing.
Two new state laws regarding accessory dwelling units, often called in-law or granny units, went into effect in January. Both say that unless local jurisdictions incorporate the new regulations into their own laws, the new state laws will take over.
The City Council is scheduled to give final approval to the new regulations at its April 19 meeting, with the ordinance going into effect 30 days later. The council gave preliminary approval to the new ordinance at its March 15 meeting.
Some of Atherton’s rules won’t change. Each property may have only one accessory dwelling unit of up to 1,200 square feet, and either the accessory unit or the main unit must be occupied by the owner. The town also does not count the square footage of the accessory dwelling unit against the maximum square footage allowed on a property.
Atherton’s new regulations say all secondary units may be rented, but only for 30 days or longer.
The most substantive changes required by state law say the town can not deny permission for accessory dwelling units inside the main house or accessory buildings, such as garages or pool houses, if those building have their own entrances and have setbacks sufficient for fire safety.
Currently, accessory dwelling units can only encroach into the setbacks required for the main house by 20 percent of those setbacks. For example, if a 60-foot setback is required for a main house, a new accessory dwelling unit requires a 48-foot setback. Those setback requirements will continue to apply to newly constructed accessory dwelling units.
The new regulations include the state requirement that applications for an accessory dwelling unit must be approved or denied within 120 days.
“We’re trying to draft around the state law,” said City Attorney Bill Conners. “I think we have done our best.”
Council members, who unanimously approved the first reading of the ordinance were most concerned that the rules seem to allow someone to construct a new accessory building such as a pool house, which can be 10 feet from a side or rear property line, and then immediately convert it into a legal accessory dwelling unit, bypassing the setback requirements for a newly constructed accessory dwelling unit.
They asked town staff to look at whether changes need to be made in the town’s setback regulations to avoid that problem.
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