Accessory dwelling units, sometimes called “mother-in-law suites,” allow family, friends or tenants to move into an already occupied lot. They’re smaller, cheaper and some see them as a fix to Virginia's housing shortage. But balancing local and state authority on zoning to allow them is the first hurdle in the process.
Dylan Nicely is Rockingham’s County Planner. He came to Richmond to explain how his locality expanded Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADUs, in 2014.
ADU’s are by right in Rockingham County, meaning they’re allowed without a permit in most residential zoned areas so long as they can meet building, health and other state codes. About 90 ADUs were built there in the last seven years, but Nicely said there could be hundreds. They’ve opened housing for farm workers in rural parts of the county, for students and employees near Harrisonburg, and short-term rental space near the ski slopes of Massanutten.
“We don’t overregulate,” he warned, noting the only limits that exist are dependent on previous planning, or in areas where existing infrastructure like schools and sewer systems could be overly impacted.
But Nicely was among those who were less keen on a 2024 legislative effort which aimed to create state-wide ADU regulations.
“Maintaining local discretion regarding ADUs would best allow localities across the state to continue to meet the specific needs and top priorities of their given communities,” he told the Virginia Housing Commission's ADU subcommittee earlier this week.
That state-wide effort made it through the Senate before dying in the House. But Republican Delegate Carrie Coyner didn’t want to give up on the idea just yet. Her district’s demands are diverse, similar to Rockingham. Suburban Chesterfield, senior living in Hopewell and rural Prince George County all have different housing demands.
“I couldn’t take the bill before us and apply it to my district, let alone pass it across the entire Commonwealth,” she said. As chair of the ADU subcommittee, she was pleased with Monday’s meeting and believes the group, made up of local officials, developers, realtors and more, are on a path to a consensus.
Coyner is, in the short term, envisioning a bill that will require localities to at least include ADUs in their comprehensive plans. After that gets enacted, the legislature will collect data on local rules and see what to do next.
“I think the level of involvement at the state level is when local governments don’t permit folks to do anything,” she said. “We want each locality to tackle this issue”
Still, Coyner isn't blind to local, and often loud and organized efforts to push back on any changes in folk's neighborhoods. And while she sees it as a property rights issues, people need to be respectful of their neighbors as well.
“Local government is closest to the people, and they struggle with the Not in My Back Yard folks," she said. "We can put guard rails around issues that are important, so localities aren’t pitted against each other, and folks have an idea what’s happening across the commonwealth.”
Senator Saddam Salim was the author of the failed ADU bill this past session.
“If you had a grandparent or kids coming back from college you could create an ADU to your home which would allow extra space, without paying more than 50% of their income in rent,” he said of his original hopes for the bill.
Salim’s Northern Virginia district has unique housing demands as it runs out of new spaces to build, and he thinks ADUs can be a part of that fix. And after Monday’s meeting, he realizes it’s going to take time, but he’s hopeful.
“If we can’t mandate or put in the rules ourselves, we have to steer localities into making this an agenda item,” he said.
The next ADU subcommittee meeting happens in July.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
