Durango City Council will consider whether to remove minimum parcel area requirements for accessory dwelling units this month, a move that is welcome by some community members and strongly opposed by others.
An ordinance amending the city’s land use and development code will be introduced at City Council’s regular Tuesday meeting where some residents are planning to speak in opposition.
If approved, about 400 properties in established neighborhood zones 1-3 would be allowed the additional choice of having detached ADUs. Integrated – attached – ADUs are already allowed on the properties, according to the city.
Community Development Director Jayme Lopko said at a Community Development Commission meeting on Sept. 29 that ADUs are an efficient way to increase housing options. They make use of existing infrastructure, they don’t require substantial approvals, and they allow families to bring elderly family members and children closer to home.
They are also an additional source of income and support compact developments, she said.
But some residents say ADUs diminish neighborhood character, congest parking and traffic, and invite noise, light pollution and other nuisances.
“If this proposal goes through, there will be even more blocking our sun, our trees, our space – more nighttime lights, more dogs, more traffic up and down, everywhere – more parking, more trash, more bears,” Martha McClellan said in an interview. “… We don't need more.”
She said ADUs would not address the city’s affordable or workforce housing needs as the ordinance is presented, because ADUs are not cheap to build and will not be cheap to rent.
Building costs are currently about $500 per square foot. If someone spends several hundred thousand dollars to build a structure, they aren’t going to rent it for $1,000 per month; they will rent it for $2,000 or $2,500 a month, she said.
“A lot of these are going to vacation rentals, or the owner is living in them and renting out his big, huge main house. That's happening,” she said.
Public commenters weighed in at last week’s Community Development Commission meeting.
Resident Jean Walters said ADUs used to be called “mother-in-law quarters” because they were typically used to house family members. But people who live in ADUs today aren’t the “quiet, retired people that we think of as mothers-in-law.”
“They are mostly youthful, high-energy students and other people who keep late hours, work second jobs, and bring high traffic and noise at all hours of the day and night to residential areas,” she said.
Durango resident Bruce Garlick said he strongly opposes laxer requirements for ADUs because they will cause congestion, traffic noise and a decline in quality of life.
“Parking is already an issue in Durango, and this will only exacerbate the situation,” Garlick said. “Durango charm lies in the small-town characteristics. Open space, peaceful neighborhoods and close-knit community – increased density across the board threatens all of that.”
Residents questioned whether Durango’s water and sewer systems could handle increased density. Lopko said the 400 properties in question wouldn’t greatly increase the burden on infrastructure because they are already tied into water and sewer systems. The burden would remain the same.
Joan Fauteaux, government affairs director for the Durango Area Association of Realtors, said DAAR generally favors “practical and innovative zoning policies that allow private property owners to utilize their property to its maximum potential.”
She said ADUs present infill opportunities, and higher density in established neighborhoods is a component of solving the housing crisis.
She encouraged the city to explore other solutions, such as incentives for homeowners to rent to the local workforce over short-term rentals. That, in addition to ADUs, would help the city address long-term, diverse housing needs, Fauteaux said.
Resident Sweetie Marbury, who has determinedly raised the issue of ADUs during public comment periods at City Council meetings, said in August that loosening restrictions would make a difference for young people, working people and older adults who need housing options.
She said the city already requires “owner occupancy,” or an owner to live on the property that has an ADU, and that’s why ADUs work in Durango.
The ordinance will be introduced on Tuesday. City Council has the option to schedule a public hearing on Oct. 21.
cburney@durangoherald.com
