10/5/23 - The 400sf Elephant in the Room

Imagine being able to house your aging mother in your own backyard in an adorable cottage like this...

Well you can stop imagining now, this cottage is 429sf and you're only allowed 400sf. 

But what about a world where your child could come home from college and have their own space like this...

Well you don't live in that world, ADUs aren't allowed above garages, either.

"Alright, bruh," I'm hearing you say, "what CAN I do to accommodate my burgeoning space needs, and where can I do it?" Well, since I know the ATLADUCO guys, let's roll with the East Lake.

"I could stick my post-college child in that." Problem solved. Well... 

1. ADUs are not allowed in LDR, so fully 66% of the residential zones in the city can't have them. 

2. You're required to live in your house or the ADU to build it. It's not clear what happens if you decide to move and then rent both units, but it's expressly prohibited, so good luck! You also can't subdivide off the land under the ADU for it to be fee simple (so you'll need a HELOC or cash to build it, instead of a traditional mortgage), and the city will not allow additional water or sewer connections for your ADU, which means you're on your own for submetering. I'm confident RG&E would happily minimum charge another account for meters, though.

3. An ADU is just another accessory use, so you'll still need to meet coverage and setback requirements and such for its construction. In the residential zones where they're even allowed, that translates directly to 50% building coverage. But remember, if you have a garage, the ADU can't be above it, it has to be a separate building. Interestingly, because most of the city that has been zoned MDR and higher is older, the lots are generally smaller and less likely to be able to accommodate another 400sf of coverage.

4. Fourth, there's no guidance in the new code as to whether your ADU requires parking or not. This is a worrisome oversight. We don't think there should be a parking requirement, of course, but right now whether one needs parking for their ADU or not is very open to interpretation. Adding a legal parking space would take up half again the maximum allowed size of the ADU (though perhaps you could sneak a space in for an RV).

For what it's worth, we wouldn't be the only city making these mistakes. Many of the rules in Rochester about ADUs seem to come directly from Atlanta, where construction of ADUs has perennially lagged professed demand due to challenging requirements. 

But we've had enough time now to see what's possible (and successful) in other cities. If Rochester is going to allow and encourage ADUs, and we certainly think they should, then we can do better. LA has developed pre-approved designs and simplified permitting for construction. So has San Jose. So has Bend, Oregon. And if Rochester can't do better than Bend, OR (sorry Bend), we need to fold up this whole operation and leave.