A proposal to make it easier for Oahu’s residential property owners to set up a second dwelling on their lots might become reality soon.
Bill 20, if it moves out of the City Council Zoning and Permitting Committee on Thursday, would be positioned for a final vote of the full Council in August.
Proponents of expanding the number of accessory dwelling units, also known as ADUs, say they are the quickest and simplest way to create more residential units to help meet the island’s housing crunch. Experts say Oahu needs 24,000 new homes in the coming years.
Opponents, however, say the additional units will overburden traditional neighborhoods and make it easier for illegal vacation rentals to proliferate.
Bill 20 is a key component of Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s Islandwide Housing Initiative.
"It’s the closest thing we have to a silver bullet in the housing strategy," said Harrison Rue, the city planner who has been tasked with leading the second-dwelling initiative. "Virtually any residential lot owner" would be able to create an ADU on Oahu "with conditions," he said.
They would be allowed on single-family residential lots that are 3,500 to 20,000 square feet in size. The maximum living area would be 400 square feet on smaller lots, up to 800 square feet on larger properties. Limiting the size of the units is a built-in way of ensuring affordability, Rue said.
"The caveats are you still would have to have the infrastructure," he said. Each ADU would have to have one off-street parking stall, although that requirement would be waived if the unit is within half a mile of a rail transit station. A landowner would also need to get the proper sewer, water and building OKs, he said.
To address the concern that making it easy to create ADUs would encourage unscrupulous homeowners to establish bed-and-breakfast establishments or other illegal, short-term vacation rentals, Rue said, ADUs could only be rented to people for a minimum of six months. Additionally, a property owner needs to be living on-site.
"We have some good enforcement language in this bill," he said.
Councilman Ron Menor, also an ADU proponent, had initially proposed his own version of the program under Bill 21.
That measure would have allowed ADUs on residential lots that are 5,000 square feet and larger, as well as on lands zoned for agriculture. Menor’s bill also did not specify any limits on the sizes of ADUs.
Menor said Friday, however, that he has asked that Bill 20, Caldwell’s version, move forward and that his plan, Bill 21, be shelved.
Many of the concepts in his bill show up in the administration’s version, "and I think the measure represents a solid piece of legislation that could help increase the inventory of affordable rentals on this island," Menor. "It’s a solid bill, and I think it needs to be given a chance to be implemented."
Council Zoning Chairman Ikaika Anderson said he and some of his colleagues might still want to make some changes to the bill before moving it out, possibly involving the requirements for off-street parking, the size of the dwellings and on what land use zones ADUs would be allowed.
"I definitely think it’s time to move on it," Anderson said. "ADUs are an important tool toward improving Honolulu’s housing situation and providing more affordable accommodations for our residents. Really, this is what this is all about."
Separate bills dealing with transient vacation units and bed-and-breakfast establishments have been stalled due to lack of agreement. But the ADU proposal shouldn’t be held up until those bills become law, he said.
"You’re always going to have unscrupulous people trying to do unscrupulous things," he said. "That should not be a reason why government doesn’t move forward."
