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After a public hearing and a few amendments to clarify some language, the Lexington Planning Commission approved a proposed ordinance for accessory dwelling units. The ordinance will now to the Lexington City Council for final approval.
Most of the proposed amendments were to the design standards section of the ordinance. None of the amendments changed any of the standards already in the ordinance, but rather clarified some language to make the standards clearer.
One of the changes was to the standards for detached accessory dwelling units, specifically in the way the standards for size of the dwelling were formatted.
In the advertised draft, the section read, “The gross floor area of a detached accessory dwelling unit may not exceed 60 percent of the gross floor area of the primary dwelling on the property nor more than the total of 1,000 square feet. Notwithstanding the 60 percent requirement a detached accessory dwelling unit may be at least 600 square feet and may be smaller at the property owner’s discretion.”
Local architect Heidi Schwizer, after reading the ordinance, noted to city planner Arne Glaeser that the language was confusing and didn’t make sense.
The goal of the section, Glaeser explained, was to allow for situations where the primary dwelling is less than 1,000 square feet, and Schwizer suggested separating the standards to reflect that divide.
Glaeser presented to the Planning Commission amended language for that section of the code, stating that if the gross floor area of the primary dwelling is more than 1,000 square feet, the accessory dwelling cannot exceed 60 percent of the gross floor area with a maximum allowed size of 1,000 square feet. If the gross floor area of the primary dwelling is less than 1,000 square feet, the accessory dwelling unit cannot exceed 600 square feet of gross floor area.
Other amendments were made to the general standards section of the ordinance, including rearranging the standards list to have what was the last item on the list, “An accessory dwelling unit cannot be constructed without the primary dwelling existing on the parcel,” be the first standard in the section. Language was added to what is now the second standard, which originally read, “No more than one ADU shall be allowed per parcel,” to reiterate the need for a primary dwelling to exist before an accessory dwelling can be built.
Language was also added to the section allowing attached accessory dwellings to be “created within or added to an existing primary dwelling” on a lot that was smaller or more narrow than the standards listed in the city code. The new language clarifies that the lot in question must be “a lot of record,” meaning that there is record of it being created before the current standards were put in place and is therefore “legally nonconforming.”
The Lexington Planning Commission voted to approve the ordinance with the new amendments in a 5-0 vote. Commission members Jon Eastwood and Gladys Hopkins were not in attendance. Vice Chair Shannon Spencer made the motion, with John Driscoll providing the second.
City Council will hold a public hearing on the ordinance at its regular business meeting on Nov. 5.
