02-22-1984 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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of a SF neighborhood considerations: make sure your regulations are not so tough that they either make it completely infeasible to convert for the majority of homes (remember that you are simply regulating, not restricting conversions) or do not allow compliance with applicable health, building and fire codes; Note: special regulations will apply if the unit is in an historic district d. occupancy this takes two forms, with two purposes: I) occupancy restrictions for the accessory apartment: such as elderly only, family only, etc.; these have not generally been upheld in court 2) owner- occupancy requirements for one of the units: this addresses the concern for adequate maintenance of the property, based on the assumption that owners will maintain at a higher level than renters; generally, this has been upheld in court, but there is a potential for some serious legal problems, especially if you currently allow homeowners to rent out their single- family houses e. off - street parking -- to minimize parking and traffic congestion caused by more adults (vs. children) as with "empty nesters" in the neighborhood considerations: make sure any requirements are consistent with similar regulations in your community, and that they are not excessive (again, regulate, not restrict); also if you are concerned with the "image" of the home in the neighborhood, take care not to require something that creates a "parking lot" instead of a back yard; you may also wish to have some flexibility built into your numbers in cases where the existing development characteristics prohibit additional off - street parking, and adequate on- street parking and /or public transportation is available f. adequacy of utilities -- to ensure that the water and sanitary sewer systems can acconrnodate the occupants of the accessory apartments; this is particularly important where wells and septic systems are in place considerations: remember that many accessory apartments are built by "empty nesters," meaning that the total number of people when both units are occupied is usually equal to or less than before (presuming the utilities were adequate in the past); you may wish to require some formal /written approval from the department(s) (often County Health) that regulate this, but probably only in situations where wells and septic systems are used 9• accessory apartments in existing accessory structures this arises more cormionly in rural areas or areas with large lot zoning, where carriage houses, large garages or barns may be well suited to accessory apartment development considerations: generally, the regulations would be similar to those applying to apartments in principle structures; the only additional consideration might be to make sure you specify how many conversions are acceptable per lot -- with SF lots, this is addressed, but only in 6 36