This story is part of The Salt Lake Tribune’s ongoing commitment to identify solutions to Utah’s biggest challenges through the work of the Innovation Lab.
Could building little houses next to single-family homes help alleviate Utah’s housing crisis?
Salt Lake County is exploring a plan to make it a little easier to build accessory dwelling units, also known as ADUs or mother-in-law units, in unincorporated residential areas.
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The changes would allow homeowners to build small homes on lots that are 7,000 square feet (down from 12,000), required setbacks would be reduced, and the additional unit could be up to 20 feet tall.
“That’s so that more of your properties can be eligible,” Kayla Mauldin, senior long-range planner for the Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District told the Salt Lake County Council on Tuesday afternoon.
Under the current guidelines only 40% of properties are eligible for detached ADU construction, Mauldin said.
The additional small buildings would also only need one parking space rather than two. Some council members were wary of reducing parking requirements and setbacks.
“The two issues are parking and privacy,” said councilmember Sheldon Stewart.
On-street parking and views into a neighbor’s backyard are two problems that may stir up opposition to the ADUs, councilmembers noted.
Last year, Salt Lake City approved reforms that loosened restrictions on height, size and parking requirements for the additional homes.
Other Western cities are already experimenting with removing barriers to building small homes on single-family lots. Seattle removed a few regulatory barriers in 2019 and issued 1,000 ADU permits in 2022 — more than four times as many as before the rule changes.
In California, a 2020 report from the University of California Berkeley found that between 2018 and 2019 permitting for ADUs increased from 6,000 to 16,000 statewide. The state took its reforms a step further in 2023, allowing homeowners to sell their granny flats like condominiums, the Los Angeles Times reported.
More of Salt Lake County may get granny flats in the future if the proposed changes go forward. Councilmember Dea Theodore noted that it was an important change to consider because “people need places to live.”
The Salt Lake County Council voted to allow the department to take the changes to the planning commission where the public will ultimately get the chance to share their thoughts on the the proposal.
