The City of Moscow Planning and Zoning Commission gathered input on the allowance of Accessory Dwelling Units at a public open house Wednesday.
ADUs are small-scale, secondary units that reside as accessories to single-family homes — albeit in different forms.
Community Development Director Bill Belknap said 20 to 30 people attended the open house and the majority of them were supportive of ADUs.
“There were quite a few people that were generally supportive of the concept,” Belknap said. “Certainly a few people that had concerns or questions about possible allowance of ADUs.”
Belknap said the open house was a good start in engaging the public on ADUs.
“So, I think it was a good first start to the conversation,” Belknap said. “It’s not going to be the last point for us to engage the public on the topic. So, I think it was, it was good.”
Belknap said there will be further open houses in the future. Currently, it is illegal to establish an ADU in Moscow. However, due to the city’s support, Planning and Zoning Commission Chair Nils Peterson said Moscow citizens may be able to purchase legal permits for ADUs in the near future.
“It’s not a guarantee, but the outcome could be that the city creates a new part of the zoning code that allows ADUs with various rules — size, parking, owner occupancy,” Peterson said. “And once that’s in place, then you could go get a building permit to do that.”
While there may be some drawbacks to making ADUs legal, Peterson said there are benefits to legalizing them.
“We know illegal ADUs exist already,” Peterson said. “They’re basement apartments rented to students. My concern about that is, you call 9-1-1 and you tell them you’ve got an emergency — maybe you can’t even talk on the phone. You just call 9-1-1 and they’re trying to find you. They don’t know your illegal apartment exists — problem, OK? So that’s one — would be to say ‘Look, we’re not about you being illegal, we’re just — we want to get you a street number and an address so that emergency services can find you and help whoever needs help.’ Public safety kind of issue, just straightforward.”
Peterson said ADUs also open opportunities to create additional housing in Moscow for people who need that option, for income reasons or otherwise.
“There’s possible wins for several kinds of people as well as a public safety,” Peterson said.
Belknap said ADUs, though unpopular for decades, have seen a slow rise in popularity across the United States.
“They were, you know, obviously more popular in the ‘40s and ‘50s … but then became less popular over the ‘60s and ‘70s into the ‘80s timeframe, really across the nation,” Belknap said. “They have been coming back into favor, really, in many locations across the nation.”
Belknap said reasons for this comeback include families’ wanting to care for their elderly without having to send them off to a home or care facility and the allowance of college graduates or Millennials in general to use them as living quarters until they can find employment. Belknap said ADUs essentially allow for affordable multi-generational housing.
Andrew Jenson can be reached at [email protected]