Durango City Council narrowly approved rolling back some restrictions on accessory dwelling units within city limits on first reading of an ordinance, voting 3-2.
Mayor Gilda Yazzie and Councilor Kip Koso voted against the ordinance. A final vote is scheduled for the City Council’s next regular meeting on Feb. 17.
The ordinance amends the city’s land-use and development code to eliminate minimum parcel size requirements for detached ADUs. The maximum allowable size would remain at 550 square feet.
City Council has discussed the ordinance since August 2025. Over the past five to six months, residents have voiced support and opposition.
Proponents said ADUs are another tool for addressing the city’s affordable housing crisis, allows families opportunities for multigenerational living arrangements and provides homeowners with an additional source of income to offset housing costs.
Those who oppose ADUs say they add to traffic and parking woes, create an extra burden for the city’s water and sewer infrastructure, and generally threaten to tarnish neighborhood character and residents’ quality of life.
Councilor Jessika Loyer said ADUs are not alone going to solve the city’s affordable housing crisis, but they are an important part of doing so.
Councilor Dave Woodruff likewise said ADUs are just one piece of the housing puzzle. He noted Community Development Director Jayme Lopko’s presentation and that only about 10 new ADUs are developed in the city annually.
Koso said the city should focus on improving its enforcement processes for ADUs before opening an avenue for residents to build more of them.
He said promises by the city were made in 2014 but weren’t kept, and the city should concentrate on rectifying those broken promises first.
Eliminating minimum area parcel requirements would affect 519 lots across established neighborhoods 1, 2 and 3 – where most of Durango’s existing ADUs are present, Lopko said. She added that does not mean 519 new ADUs are sure to be developed – merely that more lots in those neighborhoods would be eligible for ADUs.
There are currently 1,106 lots in established neighborhoods 1, 2 and 3 that are eligible for detached ADUs, she said.
Separate from the ordinance, she said Community Development staff members are working on improved enforcement processes for ADUs. A letter is being drafted that will be sent to property owners with instructions on filing an ownership affidavit with the city so the city can keep better track of its ADU inventory.
Affidavits must be signed, notarized, recorded and uploaded to the city’s OpenGov website, she said. Using OpenGov will allow the city to track ADU ownership and automatically contact owners with affidavit renewal letters, ensuring the inventor is kept up to date.
She said the city is planning to hold an Engage Durango forum at a later date to discuss ADUs with residents and offer education.
Resident Karen McManus provided a public comment stating her opposition to the ordinance. She said current city staffing and budgeting appear to restrict the city’s ability to thoroughly regulate ADUs.
She said she supports more affordable housing options within the city, but she isn’t convinced the impacts to neighborhoods is worth the trade-off of allowing more ADUs.
Loyer said ensuring Durango is affordable for her two sons when they move out was a major goal of hers when she ran for City Council five years ago. She was able to afford a home when she moved to Durango at 20 years old; that’s not the case for young people these days, she said.
“I understand people’s concerns. I want Durango to maintain its spirit and character,” she said. “I totally agree. I don’t think 10 more ADUs this year spread across Durango is going to do that (harm the city’s character).”
She said the city is working on better enforcement processes and making ADUs more accessible is one “small step” toward making Durango more affordable.
Koso said he does not object to the value ADUs offer and the issue isn’t a question about density for him. But the city really needs to bring its processes up to speed before adding more ADUs into a system that the city did not enforce as it promised a decade ago.
“Those promises made in previous years by the city around enforcement were not maintained, and I feel it’s particularly important that we update and enforce owner occupancy as well as to ensure that there’s a viable notification process and follow-up enforcement that brings all the current units into compliance,” he said.
Woodruff recalled a housing presentation by the city’s prosperity officer, Mike French, at a study session before City Council’s regular meeting in which it was noted employment has grown by 12% and housing has grown by only 9% in the past 10 years.
“Projected growth over the next five years reflects another 10% of growth over the next 10 years. La Plata County – not just the city – is going to need another 1,550 units of housing per year to be built and available,” he said. “ADUs are a piece of that housing puzzle – the arrow in the quiver, if you will – but certainly are not going to be the end all, be all.”
He said he does not expect neighborhoods to be inundated with a flood of new ADUs upon passage of the proposed ordinance. Development costs, regulatory requirements and the will of homeowners to go through those hoops will deter many people from building ADUs.
“We’re talking about housing affordability in our community, something that’s in our strategic plan, something that we all agreed is super critically important that we address. We need to make sure that we’re giving everybody the opportunity to thrive in this community,” he said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
