Accessory dwelling units are a hot topic in Bellingham again.
When they were approved in 2018, detached ADUs — smaller, backyard homes typically found on single-family lots — were meant to increase residential options in a city short on affordable homes. A divided city Planning Commission voted late last year to open the door even more widely to ADUs by recommending the Bellingham City Council remove a requirement that the property owner live on site — either in the main house or the ADU.
The commission added an affordability requirement that city staff said may violate a state prohibition on rent control. The commission voted 5–2 on Nov. 3 to waive the owner-occupancy requirement only if one of the units on the property was rented at a rate affordable to lower-income households.
“Workforce housing … doesn’t exist in single-family zoned areas,” said planning commissioner Scott Jones, who proposed the affordability requirement. “This is an awesome way to provide that.”
Members of the public will have the opportunity to weigh in during a city council public hearing on Monday, Jan. 23.
The commission also recommended relaxing the rules on ADU size, design and parking requirements, but much of the public interest so far has focused on whether or not to require owners to live on site.
Planning commissioner Barbara Plaskett spoke against eliminating the owner-occupancy requirement, arguing that even under that requirement with the existing ADU rules, the only group that benefits is homeowners who can afford to build an extra housing unit on their properties.
“We’re not finding that ADUs are providing housing for our waitstaff or the people who are packing our groceries,” Plaskett said. “We don’t know how much these ADUs are renting (for).”
Planning commissioner Rose Lathrop countered that the commission’s proposals to relax ADU rules — including possibly allowing separate ownership of the main house and ADU — would greatly expand affordability options in Bellingham.
“In terms of tools that are going to really unlock affordability, this … is going to do us a much greater good,” Lathrop said.
The city council has the final say on new ADU rules. A Jan. 23 public hearing before the council starts shortly after 7 p.m. at 210 Lottie Street or remotely via Zoom at cob.org/cczoom.
