Accessory Dwelling Units
The status of ADU legislation in Lexington
ADUs have been adopted by the Urban County Council following the recommendations listed in the 9/16 update below.
📮 - ADU Updates from the CivicLex Weekly:
What are Accessory Dwelling Units?
ADUs can be a whole separate structure, an above-garage apartment, a basement apartment, or a small home expansion.
As of now, ADUs are illegal in nearly all of Lexington-Fayette County's Residential Zones.
The 2018 Comprehensive Plan recommended ADUs as one potential strategy to address Lexington's housing shortage.
The Divisions of Planning and Senior Services made a public case for ADU legislation after the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan, tying it to a strategy to address Lexington's quickly aging population.
Since then, specific legislation has been put forth by the Division of Planning.
While ADUs are a nationally-recognized strategy to address the issue of aging in place and housing affordability, there has been significant pushback on the proposed legislation in Lexington.
Update on ADUs as of 09/16/2021
On September 14, the Planning and Public Safety Committee held a public hearing about their proposed zoning ordinance text amendment (ZOTA) to allow ADUs to any single family home in Lexington.
The hearing lasted over 4 hours and brought forward residents that were both strongly for and against the proposed zoning change. Residents against brought up concerns of parking, increased strain on city services like the sanitary sewer systems, and fear of renters.
Speakers in favor of ADUs included residents with aging family members or adults with disabilities, and supporters of more multi unit housing options in Lexington.After hearing all presentations and public comment, Vice Mayor Steve Kay proposed three amendments to the ordinance, two for clarification and one substantive change:
Clarifying the definition of residences that are eligible for ADUs as “single family residential”
Clarifying that basement ADUs are not limited to the 800 square foot maximum size restriction, as long as they do not exceed the footprint of the existing house
Changing the ordinance to a “pilot program” that only allows three of the four ADU types (converted garages, basements and attics, or attached additions to the principal home) and does NOT allow any new detached construction, to be revisited in a year
The council discussed the pros and cons of these amendments, including:
The issue that not allowing any new detached construction might be unfair to families who do not happen to already have a garage or suitable basement/attic
Resolving the potential issue of someone building a new garage and then a year later converting that to an ADU by adding a date that pre-existing garages must be built before
After some discussion, the council voted to APPROVE all three amendments, with CMs Baxter, McCurn, Worley, and Moloney voting against the third, most significant, change. The council then voted to pass the ZOTA out of committee, where it will appear in a council work session in Mid October.
What are the main pieces of the proposal?
The proposed Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment would allow for ADUs on almost all residential properties in Lexington.
ADUs could be a converted space like a basement, a new expansion on a house, or new free-standing builds . They would have to follow the following regulations:
Property owners would be allowed to build or convert an existing space into an ADU by default. (see above update)
Property owners building an ADU would be required to meet with Planning before building a new ADU to review design recommendations, regulations, and deed restrictions.
Only one ADU could be constructed per lot, and it must be under 800 sqft. in size.
The owner of the property must live in either the primary structure or the accessory unit.
Maximum of 2 persons and any children related to them would be allowed to live in an ADU.
The ADU could be used as a long-term rental property by default.
If the owner wanted to use it as a short-term rental (like an Airbnb), they would have to apply for a conditional use permit from the Board of Adjustment.
Anyone that purchases a property that has a legally-allowed ADU would be notified of the restrictions on ADUs by LFUCG upon purchase. There would be mechanism for removing the restrictions of ADUs in that context, if requested.
What is the pushback?
There has been significant pushback against ADUs from the Fayette County Neighborhood Council - Lexington’s association of Neighborhood Associations. They recently convened around a document that raises questions about the city’s ADU ordinance. Here are some selections from that document:
Home extensions, semi-independent living quarters. Is the ADU ZOTA needed to allow us to add to our home a living area for seniors, grown children or disabled family members—without a public hearing before the Board of Adjustment? Can living quarters for caregivers and domestic employees be allowed under the present zoning regulations? Are ADUs needed to provide for this accessory use in residential zoning?
Small-area restrictions. Can ADUs be prohibited in any area, for example near the University or in areas where tourism threatens to displace long-term residents? Can the ZOTA exclude these areas from the beginning? Alternately, can neighborhoods opt out of the zoning that allows ADUs after it is adopted?
Rental licensing and inspection. How would rental licensing and regular inspection impact enforcement? Which areas frequently suffer significant non-compliance with zoning regulations? What is the rate of home ownership in these neighborhoods, and how is it trending?
Vulnerable neighborhoods and displacement. Will a ZOTA permitting ADUs have a disparate impact on neighborhoods vulnerable to displacement of long-term residents? What ADU conditions can guard against such impact?
What is the context and history of the debate around ADUs?
Public conversations about ADUs started in 2018 and picked up steam in July 2019 when a draft of the proposal was released by the Division of Planning.
Before developing the ADU proposal, the Division of Planning spent a significant amount of time researching national best practices for ADU legislation, focusing on policies that would encourage wide-spread adoption by property owners and the construction of more units.
Their research found that the fewer the restrictions placed on ADU construction, the more units were built.
Since the primary goal of the ADU legislation is to add additional housing units to Lexington by allowing homeowners to do more with their property be right, Planning originally proposed few regulatory measures for ADUs.
But early concerns about ADUs from established neighborhood associations led to increased regulations as part of the ADU legislation.
The following are many of the concerns raised throughout the process:
The relatively few regulations on ADUs could lead to a declining quality of life for existing residents in neighborhoods where ADUs are constructed due to issues related to additional traffic, building code compliance, safety, capacity and integrity of sewer lines, and more.
The Division of Planning has expressed that having less regulations on ADUs makes them easier to build for homeowners (many of whom aren’t used to navigating Planning’s regulatory landscape).
Several regulations have since been added to the legislation to address some of these concerns.
Since the 2018 Comprehensive Plan includes mention of licensing, inspection, and enforcement for rental properties city-wide, some residents believe it would not be good for the city to create a new type of rental unit without these mechanisms in place.
There are currently no mechanisms for licensing, inspection, or enforcement of rental units outside of Code Enforcement and Building Inspection.
Now, any individual with the means can purchase property and convert it into rental housing, as long as it follows zoning, code, and building inspection rules.
Landlord/rental registry/inspections have been established in other communities, but would likely be a significant political hurdle in Lexington.
The ADU legislation now requires a pre-construction meeting with Planning to review regulations.
Permitting the construction of new short-term rental units could lead to a declining quality of life in neighborhoods. Some residents have expressed frustration at the growth of short-term rentals (Airbnb, VRBO) across the city.
The ADU legislation has been changed to not allow short-term rentals in ADUs by default. A short term rental use would only be allowed by applying for a Conditional Use Permit.
A lack of owner-occupancy requirements on long-term rental ADUs could lead to neighborhood decline. Many have specifically cited the impact of additional rental housing around the University of Kentucky as a negative for homeowners in the area. Rental units are on the rise overall in Lexington.
The Division of Planning originally omitted owner-occupancy requirements in the ADU policy for long-term rentals for two reasons:
There is no owner-occupancy requirement for any other housing type in the City of Lexington.
They also state that owner-occupancy requirements act as a barrier to financing for ADU construction.
Since, the ADU legislation has been amended to require the property owner live in either the primary or accessory dwelling units.
Without the requirement of parking spaces for ADUs, additional cars will be parked on the streets. ADUs could make it more difficult for existing residents to find parking, and would present safety concerns for both drivers and pedestrians due to the increased vehicular traffic.
The Division of Planning omitted parking requirements for these reasons:
Additional spaces can be provided, but are not mandated, since they are not needed in all situations.
Additional spaces are costly and could exclude otherwise suitable lots since the parking would take up space on the lot.
Without design requirements, new ADU structures may not reflect the existing neighborhood character.
However, ADUs would be required to comply with the existing zoning regulations where they are built.
Existing requirements include height restrictions, lot coverage restrictions, limited design restrictions related to the placement of entrances, and exterior stairs. The current ADU legislation does not contain a mandate for community input for new ADU construction - including no public hearing.
The Division of Planning omitted additional requirements these reasons:
Architectural/material standards currently do not exist for primary homes.
A lack of restrictions and regulations on design guidelines encourages creatively designed structures.
The ADU legislation was amended to require that property owners meet with the Division of Planning to review design best practices for ADUs.
Without occupancy requirements, there could be up to 4 individuals living in an 800 sq. ft ADU, leading to neighborhood overcrowding.
The ADU legislation originally had no language related to occupancy sizes - it defaults to the current zoning allowance of a maximum of 4 unrelated adults per housing unit.
The ADU legislation was amended to only allow a maximum of two unrelated adults in an ADU.