All Forum Posts by: Peter A Spears

Thanks Jo-Ann, I appreciate the resource. 

Gaurav, this is my understanding: 

Q1 Yes, this is very common.

Q2 No, replacement parking not required when building an ADU which replaces existing garage space.

Q3 To confirm, you want to convert an attached garage to a detached ADU? Why not convert to attached ADU?

Very good idea. Thanks again for the insights Boris.

Thanks Paul, that guide is helpful. I live in Fresno, CA, but the big picture is still the same. Indeed, it appears that I can only reasonably build 1 attached ADU utilizing the attached garage. The parking replacement isn't an issue and the owner occupied requirement wouldn't be either. While I intend to stay in this house, it's nice to not need to. The main home is 2400sqft, so I could build a 2-story attached ADU of 1200sqft, 500 of which are the present attached garage. That would create a much more desirable size for any tenant long term. My mom could live there as long as it remains feasible. Perhaps her and my son would be roomies...

Good question Boris, I should have included that. The smaller unit I was considering for my mother, as it would be downstairs. The larger unit possibly for my son. I wasn't aware of the parking issue. I don't have anywhere on the lot where I could reasonably add parking. I have my driveway which fits two cars off the street. The garage also fits two cars.

If I converted the garage to an attached ADU I would not have the owner occupied requirement or the parking issue, is that right? However, I wouldn't be able to then build the upstairs ADU, because I can only have one ADU, is that right?

Thanks Avi, I'll reach out to planning and post what I find out. 

Thanks Avi. Do you know if both ADU and JADU are allowed to be attached? My garage is existing, but the second floor for the ADU would be new construction.

Hello everyone,

I've waded through hundreds of posts on ADU and JADU requirements. I haven't been able to figure out one aspect though. In my scenario I have a 490sqft attached 2-car garage. This could be converted to a living space as an ADU or JADU. I could also add a second story to this garage and part of the home it is attached to, yielding an additional 780sqft living space. I can't figure out if that is allowed though. It seems that I may be required to build a separate structure ADU to be eligible to convert the attached garage into a JADU. However, other interpretations seem to indicate that both an attached ADU (less than 50% of residence square feet) and an attached JADU (less than 500 square feet) are possible.

Has anyone successfully completed an attached ADU and JADU in CA under the new 1-1-20 mandates? Is it even possible or does at least one of those structure need to be detached in order to have both (I know you can also have a JADU attached to a detached ADU)?

Thank you for the wealth of experience here.

Peter