All Forum Posts by: Payton Chung

Cary is beginning a process to allow more ADUs. They're already kinda legal town-wide, but this would make detached ADUs possible on lots <1/2 acre, and reduce parking requirements from an absurd 2 to a manageable 1 per ADU.

https://carync.gov/adus

Note that most of Cary is subject to HOAs, and many HOAs have rules that would prohibit ADUs -- so do your due diligence first.

Have seen many new-build duplexes come to market since this passed, but the first one I've noticed which is essentially a triplex (duplex+ADU), sold together as an income property, was just listed at 2824 Providence Rd in Southeast Raleigh.

Updated link: https://raleighnc.gov/planning...

The DUA figures are for the "Frequent Transit Development Option," which isn't available everywhere. You can see where it applies using iMAPS

https://maps.raleighnc.gov/ima...

Choose "layers" in the upper right, then Planning, Raleigh Planning, Urban Form, Frequent Transit Area.

From https://raleighnc.gov/planning/more-homes-more-choices; registration is not yet open, though:

Small-Scale Homebuilders Workshop
This half-day workshop is designed to educate small-scale and minority builders about Raleigh’s development regulations and the “nuts and bolts” of constructing missing middle housing. The goal is to encourage and support builders who seek to provide more housing options for families in Raleigh. Join us for an opportunity to engage with city staff, hear a panel discussion with industry leaders, and participate in roundtable conversations with other attendees.

Date: Thursday, February 23
Time: Check in: 8-9 a.m. Event: 9 a.m.-12 Noon
Location: NCSU McKimmon Center, 1101 Gorman Street

(Also, just noticed a typo in my post above. A flag-lot [or, as Keith calls them, interior lot] "tiny house" is not that tiny; it's <1200 sq ft, but can be either one or two units; UDO has details.)

Zoning and which side of the border will make a huge difference. Chapel Hill is notoriously difficult to build in, especially compared to Durham city. Getting a rezoning is expensive, time-consuming, and risky.

Though with that size of lot, it will likely be easier to subdivide into SFH parcels.

Of particular interest to this forum might be the "flag lot" provision, which was adapted from Durham. It would allow an owner to split off the backyard into a separate lot and build a "tiny house" (1-2 units, each <600 sq ft) on it. By creating a separate fee-simple lot, this makes the new unit's construction much easier to finance conventionally.

The NYT had a pertinent article last October about how real estate investors are using similar laws in San Diego to add units to backyards:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/1...

TC-20-21 passed council last week, as did the Frequent Transit Areas map.

All of the city's resources on this are gathered here:

https://raleighnc.gov/SupportP...

The net of this is: there are now LOTS of places in Raleigh where multi-unit buildings are now permitted... i.e., 21 DUA in R-4 and 54 DUA in R-10. (HOAs may still have other restrictions, though.)

To make the process of building new ADUs easier, the city is also doing an "ADU Open Call" right now. Later this year, there will be pre-approved ADU plans available from the city that you can then build in your backyard with a minimum of red tape.

https://raleighnc.gov/services/zoning-planning-and-development/adu-open-call

Fresh off the presses: "A newly proposed text change, TC-20-21, will be the next step in a more flexible zoning code designed to allow for smaller homes on smaller lots and denser development near high-frequency transit... You can provide your feedback on our Engage Raleigh Missing Middle 2.0 webpage."

Two information sessions this week, one Wed (tonight!) and one Thu:

https://raleighnc.gov/news/202...

After you've learned more, please do chime in - it's important that the city hear from people who would like to add homes.

IANAL, but I suspect that the Housing Code guide is assuming that you know the Building Code definition: that "habitable space" is 7'+ and that basements that are not habitable must be 6'8"+.

So any space <7' is not supposed to be counted as habitable square footage for building code purposes (though there are some exceptions). But yes, if it meets the ADU definition, you could market the house as having a legal basement ADU, and that should have some value on the market.

There are some architects in DC who do a lot of ADUs and particularly English basement units; since the building code is almost identical, I'm sure they'd be well versed in the code particulars.

Agreed with Seth: you're much better off just building it as a subdivision of fee-simple townhouses, rather than as condos on a single lot. It saves legal work for you and the eventual purchasers, and since it reduces their monthly fees it indirectly increases the initial prices.