Exciting news for Burlington Property owners!
Photo: James Buck | Seven Days
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) have been long been legal in the city Burlington. However, until now, a rigid zoning policy had effectively limited the number of legally permitted and constructed ADUs to just 45 over the last 10+ years.
On February 18th, 2020, the City Council unanimously adopted the proposed zoning reforms for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in Burlington. According to the City of Burlington’s website, “The goal of this reform is to encourage the creation of ADUs to support homeowners as they age in place, provide a flexible option to help owners continue to afford their homes and add additional affordable housing options within existing neighborhoods”.
Recommendations for this legislation were provided by the City’s 2018 ADU White Paper as well as input from the Mayor’s 2019 Housing Summits. The following changes to the ADU ordinance have now gone into effect…
- Creating an ADU is no longer the primary reason for a project to go to the DRB and the conditional use requirement for creating an ADU is removed.
- ADUs no longer require a dedicated parking space.
- The maximum ADU size in a primary home is now 800 square feet or 30% of the gross floor area of the home; whichever is greater. This change allows smaller single-family homes to create an ADU that is at least 800 square feet, regardless of the previous 30% guideline.
- If stormwater impacts are addressed, up to 650 square feet of the lot area are exempt from lot coverage limits. This change addresses the difficulties that homeowners with smaller lots faced with regards to coverage limits.
For more information or to share your input with the City of Burlington, check out the following links…
Accessory Dwelling Units | City of Burlington
ADU Policy Reform | City of Burlington
IMPORTANT NOTE: ADUs may be used as short-term rentals; however, property owners who plan to do so will be required to meet the zoning requirements for “short term rentals”, click HERE for details. Most notably, short-term rental ADUs are required to provide a parking space and the property’s primary residence must be owner-occupied.
** If you are interested in learning more about how creating an ADU will impact your Burlington property values give Steve a call at [802] 846-9575 or email us at Team@LipkinAudette.com