All Forum Posts by: Colin L.

These ordinances are generally written in black and white, and have very little 'interpretation room'. What you are seeing is less that it's a trick or special treatment, it's you haven't learned all the places in the code to look because it is so large....

No tricks, all out in the open, I know exactly why that parcel is the density it is:

I found the listing here, which tells me the site is 28,800 SF. An RM-1-1 is 1 unit per 3,000 SF for 9.6 units which rounds up to 10. §113.0222 Calculating Maximum Permitted Density

Two ways to double density are 1) do micro units 2) do affordable density bonus. §143.0720 Density Bonus in Exchange for Affordable Housing Units Fortunately City permitting in online and their scope of work will tell me which. Based on the grading permit scope they're pursuing a 100% affordable project, which would be 20.

Add in one attached and two detached ADUs in addition to the base density and the affordable density bonus and you have 23. §141.0302 Accessory Dwelling Units and Junior Accessory Dwelling Units There's a couple other options that could have resulted in the same number, but the point is it isn't a secret or based on who you know at DSD, it's knowing the codes better than anyone else and knowing how to build one on another. It takes three separate code sections to understand that development project, but they are all very simple sections. Justin learned how they go together by doing and networking, I learned by working for someone who is one of those few experts he mentioned before. It truly is a relationship business though, and learning the codes better than 99% of the people that work at DSD. Sometimes I learn because a client asks about a new portion of the code I haven't studied yet, that allows me to keep being the expert for my other clients that end up asking about that same section later.

Thanks Matt for the detail response. Learn something from this post!

From looking at the §143.0720 Density Bonus in Exchange for Affordable Housing Units, it seems that my site is also eligible for affordable housing density. However, it has 55 years rent restriction instead of 15 years for the ADU. Do you know how does the FAR interplay with the affordable housing density?

Also, for the affordable ADU, do you know if they have requirement to be detached or attached?

FAR will not be affected by utilizing affordable ADU's to my knowledge. If you were to utilize the affordable density bonus, micro-units or complete communities programs to increase density you get several "developer incentives" (143.0740) which can be used to modify development regulations such as reducing setbacks, increasing max building height, or increasing max FAR, basically whatever makes things easier to provide the additional units.

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Hey Mark - I'd love to hear more about how the re-zoning process is coming along. I've got a couple of projects in NC so curious if it's a strategy that could be re-used on other similar properties.

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Originally posted by @Justin R.:

Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs:

Originally posted by @Joe Splitrock:

I have said for a long time that houses in California are not worth $1.5 million dollars. Many of these houses would cost under $200K in my market. The LAND holds the value. This law allows splits up to 4 units, but also requires the owner to occupy for 3 years. It is a house hackers dream. Tear down a single family home, build a nice duplex or fourplex, then sell the property in 3 years to an investor for nice profit. Or move out and rent the fourth unit.

The obvious down side is these neighborhoods will reduce in quality. A neighborhood full of single family homes is more desirable than one filled with duplex and fourplex. Density brings renters, traffic and noise. New people moving in may not care, but long term residents will not enjoy the change.

I don't see that this bill drive people out of California, not in any larger numbers than already leaving. If you are willing to sit in traffic for hours and deal with smog, you are not going to care about this. People get conditioned to their surroundings. I guess it could be the last straw for some people who considered their home a quiet oasis in the concrete jungle of California.

Either way, as I said in my first point, the LAND holds all the value. Being able to split that into 2-4 unit multifamily will only increase land value.

Joe do keep in mind in many of the nicer neighborhoods a cash flowing 4 plex is NOT worth what the SFR is worth so they would be going backwards in values..

Yes. I'll put my prediction in writing: this will have no meaningful impact on *existing* neighborhoods. Builders of new subdivisions will have the option to build at 2x density (which is probably a good thing). But existing housing stock? Nothing. Sure, a few owners or investors will do something on the edges ... or a few odd parcels will be split up. But it's not going to change existing neighborhoods in mass. In general (at least in urban San Diego) it is infeasible to evenly split existing urban lots (as required by these bills) and it makes NO FINANCIAL SENSE to mass tear down existing SFRs to split the land and build more units. The cost to build onesies and twosies is too high for that.

In short, lots of smoke, no fire.

Totally agree with this, especially when an ADU/JADU is going to be much more cost effective.

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Originally posted by @Dan H.:

What makes you believe you can do two ADUs in a RM1-1 zone? I believe you are constrained to one ADU and one JADU. The JADU cannot be from new space except as necessary to enter (it has some small cap on the footage that I think may be 60'). The JADU also has the limitation that it can only be rented when the property is owner occupied. A JADU in many markets is as likely to lower the value of the property as it is to raise the property value.

Financing is one of the issues with ADU additions. The larger issue is in many markets the value of the ADU addition as established by an appraisal is less than the hands off ADU addition costs.

Good luck

You can build 2 detached ADU's if there is an existing or proposed multifamily building on the property. As long as there is an existing duplex or he is proposing a duplex he is good to go.

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Hey Correy, I have not worked on a project using that ADU bonus but I know someone who is building one, I'd be happy to put you in touch with them.

In regards to the income levels, they way it works is the City will require a document be recorded against your deed that restricts the unit to tenants that make less than the amount specified. The amount of rent is based on the AMI which can be found here in this handy chart:

https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/sdhcd/rental-assistance/income-limits-ami/

so the calculation looks like this:

For a 1BR unit (2 person household) at the very low income level you could charge a max of 1/12 of 30% of $48,500 or $1,212.5 per month.

Also, in the agreement that I've seen (which was for a different City in CA) there were some restrictions against students.

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Originally posted by @Sandra S bello:

@Colin L. Do you work on plans for ADU's?

Yes

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You could look into prefabricated homes. I don't think the savings is as great as most people hope but it might be enough to make it worthwhile.

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Nicely done, keep us posted on the progress!

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Originally posted by @David Frandsen:

@Will Barnard Good clarification. I had assumed the property needed to have multiple structures to do the two ADU's. But from what you saying it only needs to be zoned multifamily? Interesting. There could be some different readings of the law between cities.

In San Diego i'm hearing they are going with current use. So you would need to have a multifamily structure on the property to take advantage of the two ADU rule. I would be interested to hear if anyone is having success putting two ADU's on lot that only has a SFR.

That's not correct for San Diego, if you are proposing a multifamily (defined as 2 or more per lot) you can also take advantage of this. The updated code states:

(i) The number of ADUs permitted within the habitable
area of an existing multiple dwelling unit structure is
limited to 25 percent of the total number of existing
dwelling units in the structure, but in no case shall be
less than 1 ADU; and
(ii) Two ADUs that are detached from an existing multiple
dwelling unit structure are permitted; and
(iii) There is no limit on the number of ADUs permitted
within the portions of existing multiple dwelling unit
structures that are not used as livable space, including,
storage rooms, boiler rooms, passageways, attics,
basements, or garages, if each ADU complies with state
building standards for dwelling units.

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Los Angeles County, California

Originally posted by @Krystle Moore:

@Sherry Chen I feel most comfortable investing in San Diego because I know the market but we are considering the idea of investing out of state with the right team. I would only do it with a larger building though. In San Diego, I really like National City. The city is easy to work with and the mayor wants to grow and improve the city. We have units in Old Town and La Jolla Shores. I also really like Vista, Oceanside and IB for investing. I like City Heights in the right areas - basically hugging North Park.

NC is definitely changing. I've got a couple of projects there and many more new developments will be popping up in next few years. Congrats on the buy!

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All Forum Posts by: Colin L.

Colin L. has started 8 posts and replied 237 times.

Post: ADU bonus density in San Diego

Post: Zone Upgrade to turn an old house into 14 condos!

Post: Will the California SB 9 bill tank the market?

Post: Funding for 2 unit ADU project on RM1-1 San Diego city

Post: ADU Bonus for Affordable ADUs.

Post: Help with Costs for ADU in San Diego, Ca

Post: Help with Costs for ADU in San Diego, Ca

Post: Deep Dive into Development of Duplex/Townhouse (New Construction)

Post: ADU vs regular dwelling crossroads

Post: 30 unit building in San Diego