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From: Collin Park <br />To: GRP -City Council <br />Subject: March 8, 2021 Council meeting: Comment on agenda item 9.A., Zoning Ordinance amendments related to <br />Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) <br />Date: Friday, March 5, 2021 11:03:21 AM <br />Attachments: ATTACHMENT A DRAFT ADU ORDINANCE.odf <br />CAUTION: This email originated from outside your organization. Exercise caution when <br />opening attachments or clicking links, especially from unknown senders. <br />Honorable Council Members, <br />I would like to build a detached ADU over my garage to help alleviate the severe housing <br />shortage on our Peninsula, but the proposed 16 -foot height limit will make this impractical. I <br />therefore urge Council to reject the proposed 16 ft. maximum height for detached ADUs, and <br />rather allow a maximum height of 22 ft, possibly with conditions[*] <br />[*] Examples: <br />to address the concern expressed on page 3 of the Staff Report, allow 22 ft if a detached <br />ADU complies with 6 ft rather than 4 ft setbacks, but a lower limit otherwise; <br />Rather than striking the existing requirement in 37.3 C.2.d.(v) (zoning ordinance link) <br />that windows facing immediately adjacent neighbors be made opaque or clerestory (p. 5 <br />of 12 of the draft ADU ordinance [attached]), retain that requirement for detached <br />ADUs; or maybe strike it only if a detached ADU complies with 6 ft setback? <br />I'm sure others will have good ideas <br />This would not be a financial boon for us! Although we might recoup our investment within <br />10-15 years, I'm not sure we'd ever come out ahead vs leaving our money in mutual funds. <br />Additional information follows. <br />I purchased our home in Friendly Acres in the 1980s; it was a 2 -bedroom with an attached 1 - <br />car garage and a detached (624 sq ft) 2 -car garage. The latter opens onto an alley on the <br />northern border of the property. 31 years ago, we converted the attached garage to living <br />space, without altering the footprint. We now want to rebuild the detached garage to <br />accommodate a taller vehicle, again without altering the footprint. <br />While discussing this project with our contractor friend, the idea arose of adding an ADU atop <br />the garage. Having watched housing prices ascend beyond absurdity on the Peninsula, and <br />wondering what we could do to help, this seemed like a good thing to do. The project will <br />likely cost us some 400K$ including demolition and replacement of the foundation. A survey <br />of rents in our area suggests a ten to 15 -year payback. We can only hope that the tech <br />migration continues and that lots of other homeowners build ADUs, so that rents stabilize at a <br />lower level. This would be a wonderful outcome, though it would obviously push our <br />payback period to the longer end of the range. <br />From the ADU heatmap linked to Monday's agenda, I see that I am not alone in wanting to <br />construct a detached ADU higher than 16 ft. <br />