Back in June of this year, I wrote here about new state laws, which took effect January 1st, which are intended to increase the supply of “affordable housing” throughout the state, including the city of Burbank. Known as “Accessory Dwelling Units” or ADUs, these secondary structures can be built in R-1 neighborhoods (except for R-1H areas, known as the “Rancho” here in Burbank) and are defined as follows:

“An Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) is an attached or a detached residential dwelling unit which provides complete independent living facilities for one or more persons separate from the main house. An ADU includes permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation and may be rented. A property with an ADU may not be subdivided and may not be sold as separate property and the property must be owner occupied” (occupying either the ADU or the primary residence, which will be verified by an annual inspection process conducted by the City of Burbank).

Along with the owner occupancy requirement, working under the auspices of an Interim Development Control Ordinance, or IDCO, the city is also attempting to refine the state laws to make them more compatible with and protect our beloved Burbank R-1 neighborhoods, while still providing much needed affordable housing stock. To that end, the Burbank City Council has already decided to limit the size of an ADU to only 500 sq. ft., thereby effectively reducing the number of potential occupants and increased parking demand in neighborhoods, along with somewhat capping potential rental rates by virtue of the ADU size. Also, the city has stipulated that ADUs cannot be rented for less than 30 days, so as to prevent the proliferation of Airbnb uses.

I’m only scratching the surface of the many aspects pertaining to this very important issue. Please feel free to call me or visit the City of Burbank website, burbankca.gov and search “accessory units” for more information.