Eleven years after legalizing accessory dwelling units in Durango, City Council will revisit the conversation later this year.
Councilor Dave Woodruff requested a future meeting about eliminating minimum lot sizes for detached ADU’s. The discussion is a long time coming.
In 2022, the city loosened restrictions on new ADU’s by making them eligible for permitting in all residential neighborhoods within city limits aside from planned development zones such as SkyRidge and Rock Ridge.
Minimum lot size requirements were eliminated then, but only for integrated ADU’s, or ADU’s attached to homes.
The city also launched a rebate program that year to incentivize and compensate residents up to $8,000 to build ADU’s.
In 2023, Councilor Jessika Buell and Mayor Gilda Yazzie said they are open to altering lot size and other requirements.
Residents Sweetie Marbury and Christina Rinderle, perhaps Durango’s most keen and consistent proponents at public meetings of relaxing ADU restrictions ‒ and who each served on City Council when ADU’s were legalized in 2014 ‒ again asked City Council to eliminate minimum lot sizes last week.
Marbury said eliminating minimum lot size requirements for all ADU’s regardless of the zones they are located in would help young families paying their mortgages, working people and the elderly.
She said the city has outgrown the requirements established when she was on City Council in 2014.
“It should be equal and fair to everyone. I’m asking you to vote for homeowners and to abolish the lot sizes that we established in 2014 for accessory dwelling units. Because you can make a difference,” she said.
Rinderle said ADU’s are typically small and are currently restricted to up to 550 square feet. By removing remaining minimum restrictions, the city can encourage more diverse and flexible housing. Homeowners with smaller lots would be able to contribute to the city’s housing supply.
She told The Durango Herald common community concerns about ADU’s are they would create too much neighborhood density, clog on-street parking and damage neighborhood character. But she said rentals pose the same challenges, yet five strangers are unimpeded in renting a house together anywhere, and ADU’s often accommodate families.
ADU’s prevent urban sprawl and the development of new infrastructure because they tap into existing infrastructure and they allow multigenerational families or people with disabilities and caregivers to live on the same lot while retaining their own privacy.
She said minimum lot requirements were put in place in 2014 as a compromise with residents who were concerned about potential negative impacts. But she also said those restrictions have outgrown their usefulness.
The city requires a property owner to live in either the main home or the ADU on a given lot. Rinderle and Marbury said that owner occupancy requirement already preserves neighborhood stability.
“It promotes equity and access for our community,” Rinderle said. “Our minimum lot sizes often disproportionately exclude lower income neighborhoods or those older neighborhoods with smaller lots. So removing this barrier makes it more equitable for a wider range of residents of our community to benefit from the ADU development as an income source or for their family members.”
Woodruff’s proposed ordinance is scheduled to be introduced at a future City Council meeting. From there, councilors will hold discussion and decide on whether to advance the ordinance.
cburney@durangoherald.com
