John Scarffe, Nederland.   The Nederland Board of Trustees redlined a proposed ordinance regarding Accessory Dwelling Units. (ADUs) during a regular meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15, in the Nederland Community Center. Town Administrator Karen Gerrity told the Board that accessory development units have been talked about for years.

ADUs can increase occupancy for affordable housing and have an increased opportunity to generate revenue, Gerrity said. The Nederland Planning Commission talked about this for several of its last meetings and had a public hearing. The Commission asked the Town attorney to draft a resolution.

The Planning Commission discussed ADUs at its January 24 and March 28 meetings and conducted a public hearing at its April 25 meeting, when the final draft language for an ordinance was recommended to Trustees, according to background.

Town Attorney Nina Petraro drafted an ordinance for consideration based upon previous discussions. Within the ordinance, Petraro included the definition, along with other code changes to Chapter 16 – Zoning necessary to support the use, according to background.

The benefits of ADU allowance include increased supply of affordable units due to smaller size, better housing maintenance and neighborhood stability, on-site senior housing ability to care for parents or other family members, additional rental income or rent reduction for provision of needed services, lower prices and a higher quality for tenants, according to background.

Barriers of ADU allowance include topographical site challenges that will increase development costs, building code requirements for minimum room sizes and habitable rooms require 70-square-foot minimum size, including bedrooms. The room must be no less than 7 feet in any direction, according to background.

“Every dwelling must have at least one room with 120 square feet or more. All other habitable rooms besides kitchens must have at least 70 square feet,” according to background. Inability to access a loft via a ladder would take a local amendment to the building code for allowance.

Zoning-based considerations like setbacks, building heights, allowable lot coverage and parking can be a problem. Parking has proven to be one of the larger challenges faced by cities such as Boulder, although public feedback has generated support for eliminating parking requirements, according to background.

Utility connections and maintenance must ensure adequacy for the proposed occupancy, whether connected to Town utilities or on well or septic systems, according to background. If connected to the Town’s utility system, ADU’s would be required to pay both quarterly base fees, as well as usage fees.

If relying upon well or septic systems, this must be compliant or upgraded to accommodate additional occupancy. Petraro told the Board this creates a new section in zoning, which is able to be regulated.

The definition of an ADU is an attached house or within existing structure like a basement. The key part to the ordinance is section B. The owner needs to a primary resident of Nederland who is trying to stay in the community.

Applicants need to prove they are residents. Setbacks are planned for off-street parking, Pnetraro said. A resident can have no more than one ADU.

“If you create your own unit, it has to be more than 800 total square feet. It has to be more than 200 total square feet,” Petraro said, and it must comply with utilities. They are exclusively for long-term rentals and not short term. It will be allowed in residential zones, and it would go into effect six months after it passes.

Planning Commission Chair Roger Cornell told the Board that the Planning Commission conducted four or five work sessions that were public hearings. “The sixteen points above are the issues we had long discussions with.”

They also looked at a dozen other towns. “We encourage you not to change this,” Cornell said.

Trustee Allen Apt said he thinks it is a great idea, and it’s important for long-term rental property. Trustee Jonathon Baumhover said he is very excited to see this, and what you all have produced here is an excellent ordinance.

Mayor Pro-Tem Julie Gustafson asked why is long-term more than 30 days. Petraro said it’s a standard. Being a primary residence is the way it sorts out. You have to show driver’s license or voter registration.

Cornell said the idea that the owner has to be living in one of the units is found across the nation, and it wasn’t an issue. There’s going to be a limited availability of lots that this can even happen on except for a basement or room in an existing house, which would be not unlike renting out a room, but now you have a complete independent housekeeping unit, which is the difference. Petraro said it must be a separate unit and only two bedrooms.

Cornell said that next week the Planning Commission will be almost finalizing the short- term rental ordinance, but they really, really studied this, and all across Colorado it is long term. “It’s the kitchen and unique area, but we are going to come out with a comprehensive plan and the short term will make sense. We are trying to make long-term housing units for people.”

Gerrity said this direction first came from the October housing meeting. “You look at a duplex type situation or a business and it would be run very differently,” she said. Cornell said that we can always go back, so making it more strict now is the best. Sales tax revenue from licensing is a big separation.

Trustee Dallas Masters said he sent around a redlined copy, and he has done research and is inclined to be more progressive. “I don’t think we need #3, primary residence,” he said. “I can have a person who doesn’t live in town and still wants to invest in a long-term rental. There are plenty of people who own a house in town and we shouldn’t preclude them.”

“You may not get very many ADUs. I don’t think it’s applicable here,” Masters said. That would preclude the next item, and number two about the utility service needs to be cleaned up. Number four, parking, the guidance from ADU is that normal parking is usually enough.

A study in Oregon said parking is not an issue. “These are roadblocks to getting what we want,” Masters said. “If someone wants a modern ADU different from their cabin, they should be able to do that.”

Masters also objected to number 8 in the ordinance that it shall not exceed the size of the primary residence. You can actually get an ADU bigger than the primary dwelling.

His last one was septic. “It needs to say, ‘If applicable.’ If you are on a sewer, you don’t need septic.”

“We’re putting these terms into this code, and I would rather have the short-term, long-term rental when we have that discussion until we see all of these issues and address them for all structures and address it at a future meeting,” Masters said.

Conrad said that if they remove primary residence a bunch of investors will come up here and buy homes. “It’s not just about affordability. Investors will turn everything into concrete.”

Conrad disagreed with removing long-term language. “What we’re looking for is to help our community members and keep them here. We’re just looking for someone to have a business.”

Apt said he wants to leave the long-term in here -- 60 days or more. Baumhover agreed with Conrad, and as written now this is very quality. He agreed with cleaning up some of the language but agreed with long-term rental.

The goal is for families to work together with what they have, Baumhover said. As this ordinance is currently written it has been gone thoroughly, and he recommends passing it as is.

Gustafson is supportive of the language as is. One of the goals of the Board was affordable housing. Having a primary residence was one of the tools to help with density, and the parking plan is important.

During nine months of snowy weather, you can’t park on the street, she said. “I don’t care about the language about the actual unit, but 30 days undermines our effort.”

Mayor Kristopher Larsen said that the only references to long term are in number 15 and a definition. Could this be rewritten, but leave the definition of what long-term is until the discussion of short-term and that opens the opportunity to address that issue? I agree with the principle and cleaning up the language and not restricting what the ADU looks like.”

Masters said that it would work if you remove this language and let us deal with this when short-term comes up, but he had the primary residence concern. The goal is to increase affordable housing, and you increase it when you take away obstacles to build an extra unit.

“You increase by one with a land owner who wants to build an ADU and that’s what the ADU guidelines say. You want to be careful about introducing restrictions. Make sure we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot,” Masters said.

Gustafson said it’s important that we take the ADU knowledge and look at it in the community. “If you represent a community, we won’t want to destroy the trust of the people we represent. It’s okay to apply the knowledge of our community to increase housing.”

Baumhover said that if the Board allows this to pass currently, Trustees can’t come back later and say we only allow primary residences. The Board gave a nod of four to move ahead with the ordinance by cleaning up the language and moving the long-term definition out for a later discussion.

(Originally published in the June 7, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)