The five-hour-long meeting of the Colorado Springs City Planning Commission Wednesday went a long way toward clearing the air about accessory dwelling units in the city of Colorado Springs.
Accessory dwelling units are second homes built on a lot that can be rented to other families. Most are located at the back of the lot along the rear property line and are much smaller than the primary residence.
The question is not whether there should be accessory dwelling units in neighborhoods inside the city limits of Colorado Springs. The question is what those accessory dwelling units should be like.
Should they be essentially smaller cottages about half the size of the main residence built on the lot? Or should they be large homes, as big as the main residence, and rising two or more stories into the air?
After an almost all-day meeting in which many ideas about ADUs were discussed -- and most of those ideas discarded -- the planning commission voted to forward to Colorado Springs City Council an ADU law that looks like this:
1. Only one ADU per lot. The city government originally proposed two ADUs for each lot, a proposal that greatly disturbed a large number of homeowners and volunteer homeowners' associations.
2. A height limit of 25 to 28 feet, which has the effect of limiting the ADUs to two stories high. The height limit varies from 25 to 28 feet depending on the type of roof on the ADU.
3. The ADU can be the same size as the primary house on the lot. The homeowners and homeowners' associations objected to this provision, arguing instead for a size limit for an ADU of 1,250 square feet.
Another rule for accessory dwelling units sent to City Council was no short-term rentals (STRs). Also sent to Council was that ADUs can only be rented and not sold as separate properties.
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Consideration of the new ADU law by the City Planning Commission was a major political event in Colorado Springs. Four people spoke in favor of the revised legislation. One was Jill Gaebler of the Pikes Peak Housing Network. Another was a representative of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce.
There were 20 speakers who criticized the legislation as originally presented and strongly supported amending it in one way or another. Leading the group were Westside Watch, an association of homeowners' associations from the west side of Colorado Springs, and a citizens' lobbying organization named Integrity Matters.
Also calling for limits on ADUs was Historic Neighborhoods Partnership, a group of 10 older neighborhoods surrounding the downtown area.
The final shape of the proposed ADU law will be determined by City Council in January 2025 and could be given final approval in early February.
City Council will have the power to change the new law any way it sees fit, even restoring the second ADU per lot rule and raising the building height above two stories if it so chooses.
The result is that the homeowners' associations that want to keep the planning commission's beneficial changes to the proposed ADU law will have to attend the relevant City Council meeting and be ready to oppose such efforts if they occur.
Sitting and waiting at City Council meetings for damaging last-second proposals to occur or not occur is time consuming work, but neighborhood association leaders need to do it if they are going to protect their neighborhoods from what they deem to be harmful actions by City Council.
But at the moment many neighborhood association leaders in Colorado Springs are thankful to the City Planning Commission for not allowing two ADUs per lot and keeping the two-story limit on the height of ADUs.