Revised ADU Ordinance (Accessory Dwelling Unit)

Our current ADU ordinance does not align with current state laws.
Therefore, State Laws and oversite apply with only "Ministerial" approval by City Planning Department.

HERE is the State/Sacramento Handbook/Guidelines (PDF) for ADUs - currently relevant for ADU's in our Village as of January 2025
HERE is a link to the most current ADU and JADU (Junior ADU) State Codes (updated since July 2022)

HERE is a new Carmel by the Sea - Considering an ADU? Question & Answer Guide (as of Nov 2024)

December 4 - Regular City Council Meeting - Housing Element Update including ADU efforts

HERE is the Staff Report highlighing the collaboration and progress between the Planning Department and the AHA team in each of the four program areas: ADU, Hotels, Downtown and Churches.
HERE are the Slides from this presentation
HERE is the YouTube starting with this topic
Below is the specific ADU slide covered in this City Council Ongoing Housing Element Effort.

November 13 - City Planning Commission Meeting

This meeting reviewed the DRAFT Ordinance. This session is expected to be for comments and no decisions with this first review.
HERE is the YouTube of this meeting topic.
HERE are just the ADU slides from this Meeting
HERE is the Staff Report for this ADU topic, that contains multiple attachments.
HERE is the "clean" version of the new draft Ordinance
At a future Planning Commission (PC) meeting, the draft ordinance and supplemental (Objective Design & Developement Standards -ODDS) would be approved. This supplemental ODDS document is anticipated to go into effect immediately upon (PC) approval. The Ordinance however requires two readings and approvals before the City Council and then the approved ordinance will route to the Coastal Commission for it final OK's before it becomes our City Municipal Code.

August 21 - City Hosted - Housing Community Meeting (ADU's were a portion of this session)

HERE is the KOIN local TV Video & Text report from the City Hosted Community Meeting with AHA team - highlighting initial strategy work to replace City Owned-sites from our Adopted Housing Element.
HERE is the YouTube recording from this Meeting
HERE are the Slides use to introduce these discussions and open up for community comments and questions - see page 10-11 for ADU specific highlights.
Significant interest expressed on ADU and JADU's as well as clarifications needed on the Hotel-to-Affordable Housing programs.

HERE is a noteworthy article Aug 19th from CalMatters.org on how the California Coastal Commission is pushing back on legislators on upcoming new bills making their way through to law (an interesting mention on local controls on ADU's here)

August 6 2024 - City Council Meeting Agenda Topic - ADU Ordinance Update

HERE is the advanced Staff Report for this topic.
HERE is the YouTube link of this meeting that begins with this ADU topic
HERE are the Slides as presented.

June 28 2024 - Carmel Pine Cone (Cover Article)

The Carmel Pine Cone Issue HERE has an ADU update article beginning on the cover page titled "City studies crackdown on ‘ugly’ granny units".

Feb/Mar 2024 - City Staff Preliminary review with HCD

Our City Staff met with HCD, who will be a part of our final ordinance approval, for a conseptual recommendation of sq ft limitations for our Village given our small 4000 sq ft lots. City Staff will share these findings and next steps targeting July Planning Commission or sooner.

November 15th Planning Commission Workshop - Draft Review

HERE is the meeting agenda and staff report in advance of the meeting.
HERE is the YouTube for this meeting.
HERE is a link to the Draft ADU Ordinance.
HERE are the Slides used in this workshop.
This draft addresses total size of ADU's allowed on our small 40x100 lots in alignment with the Coast Act, critical need for objective design standards to be created (an $85K grant was received to fund this (now only 1/2 of these $'s due to budget cuts)), parking considerations, the characteristics of the ADU must align with the primary residence and many other items explored.

Note: 2023 October new Housing Laws require, by 2025, that we have pre-approved ADU designs for ministerial approval. As per our Planning Director today he anticipates that this will a part of our efforts in/for our Housing Element, but does not anticipate frequent if any use of these options, plus our pre-approved plans likley would not have preset exterier finishes, so that can be aligned with the primary residence - all to be completed in months to come.

Aug 30 - Mentioned in the Strategic Priorities half yearly review.

View this YouTube at time stamp 37 minutes. Recognized as a Strategic Prioritiy. This is now targeted for Planning Commission in October/November.

Also see the Aug CRA Survey Results - beginning on page 9 for feedback on this topic.

Updates to our Village Ordinance is expected soon (Spring/Summer 2023) - once the draft is prepared, this will be open for public comment in Planning Commission and City Council.

It is our wish that the soon to be revised Design Guidelines & Code Update (Design Traditions) project will be embraced in this upcoming Ordinance updates - however State Laws may limit this alignment. See our Architecture page for the Design Traditions work underway on this initiative.

The following images are the slides from a March 2022 presentation given by Brandon Swanson. The Full Presentation as PDF is HERE. HERE is the YouTube Recording from this CRA Presentation.