Guest houses, manufactured homes reviewed by city boards

A roughly five-hour joint meeting between the Carson City Board of Supervisors and the Carson City Planning Commission on Thursday could lead to more housing options in the community, specifically the rental of guest houses and less stringent design standards for manufactured homes.

Supervisors and planning commissioners combed over hundreds of pages of the city’s development standards, which are contained in an appendix in Title 18 of city code: https://library.municode.com/nv/carson_city/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT18_APPENDIXCADEST.

The revisions are tentative, part of a larger rewrite of Title 18 undertaken by Community Development and the District Attorney’s Office. Any changes to the standards will come back to the boards for approval. The meeting did give elected officials and the appointed volunteers on the planning commission the opportunity to direct staff on various topics.

“There is a lot of conversation about how do we, as a community, set a scenario for more affordable housing,” said Supervisor Maurice White, addressing current development standards for manufactured homes. “And when I look at this set of regulations on manufactured housing, I see a scenario where you’re making it harder to get this affordable housing into place.”

The revisions wouldn’t change where manufactured homes are allowed, just the design standards that would still have to satisfy state and federal regulations. Currently, the standards for manufactured homes in a single-family zoning district require siding “similar in color, material and appearance” to other homes within 300 feet as well as a roof pitch matching that of most surrounding homes. The current standards also require a minimum of 1,200 square feet for manufactured homes in a single-family area and a construction age of less than five years.

“I don’t know of a manufactured home that has a roof built in the same pitch as a site-built house,” White said. “I think you’re making it incredibly difficult to help people get into housing that is more affordable.”

Community Development Director Hope Sullivan told the Appeal the current design requirements for manufactured homes could be softened as discussed. Again, any changes will be brought back to the boards.

City staff is also mulling proposed revisions to standards for guest houses, also known as accessory dwelling units or ADUs.

Current standards set ADU size based on the size of the main residence or zoning. They also restrict such units to family members or nonpaying guests, meaning they can’t be rented.

In the proposed revisions presented Thursday, the restriction on renting the units would be removed, but other restrictions would apply. The minimum lot size for a detached ADU would be 12,000 square feet. Detached ADUs would also need a separate water and sewer connection unless a shared connection is authorized by the director of Public Works.

In an Oct. 18 email to the joint boards, Ethel Way resident Tom Grundy opposed the rental of ADUs.

“I believe this change functionally changes all single family and mobile home zoning in Carson City to multi-family duplex zoning,” Grundy wrote.

Grundy expressed concerns about ADUs being used as vacation rentals, though Sullivan pointed out Thursday vacation rentals are prohibited in residential zoning districts.

“As I read the changes, there is nothing to prevent me from buying a property, building an ADU and renting out both units creating a fully multi-family or hotel-type business and live elsewhere completely avoiding the disturbance in the neighborhood,” Grundy wrote.

Mayor Lori Bagwell and Supervisor Stacey Giomi instructed staff to make a provision in the ADU standard revisions that the property owner must reside onsite, in either the primary residence or ADU. This would prevent a person from living offsite and renting two structures, they argued.

Planning Commissioner Richard Perry noted the revised standards, as proposed, would require any ADU development not to conflict with any private neighborhood restrictions such as from a homeowner’s association.

The discussion on ADUs came as the city is preparing a tiny house ordinance. According to Tiny Home Builders, a tiny house is a home typically less than 600 square feet. It can be built on a foundation or a trailer. A city ordinance regulating such structures is expected to come before planning commissioners and supervisors sometime next year, according to Community Development.

Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Dan Yu, who is tasked with rewriting the development standards, said the goal is clarity in the code.

“It’s just like any other piece of legislation,” he said. “We want it to be broad enough to where it’s going to be able to apply to a number of different scenarios across the spectrum, but at the same time, we want enough specificity…”

Yu said the purpose of any legislation is for citizens bound by it to know what is allowed.