After hearing from former Town Council Member Dennis Brown, the council made some additional revisions to a single-family zoning proposal before passing it at its Feb. 15, meeting.

Staff had developed an amendment proposal to address complaints about single-family construction that could easily be converted to duplex housing units.

In addressing the Planning and Zoning Commission in December, Development Service Director John Wesley said, “On several occasions over the last few months staff has received building permit plans for single-family homes that look a lot like duplexes. These homes give the appearance of a duplex from the street and could very easily be modified to turn them into a duplex.

“Because they met all the technical requirements of the zoning ordinance and building codes as single-family dwellings, staff had to approve the applications.

“Because the property is zoned for single-family uses, they could not legally be converted to a duplex use, but it could be very tempting to do so without proper permits and give an appearance as a duplex in the neighborhood.”

Brown, a general contractor who had led the council through zoning changes to address restrictive rules related to casitas and attached mother-in-law quarters raised concerns about the new proposal the council was hearing.

Staff met with Brown, and he pointed out situations where a single-family home might legitimately have more than one two-car garage with both needing to face the street due to lot configuration and slope issues.

Staff prepared an alternative that removes the specific requirements regarding garage doors and front doors facing the street and amended wording related to provisions regarding mirror images that include those items.

The intent of ordinance remains but provides more flexibility to review a specific design to see if the placement and design of the garages and front doors create an issue, according to Wesley.

Councilman David Spelich, who asked the council to delay action on the ordinance in January until staff could hear from Brown, stated he appreciated the hard work and effort of the former council member while he served and was concerned about undoing some of his effort. He thanked staff for reaching out to Brown.

The council approved an ordinance with changes suggested by Brown. The new ordinance addresses other issues as follows:

*There may be no more than one primary kitchen in the dwelling. Any other food preparation areas must meet requirements as allowed for guest houses or quarters.

*Except as allowed for guest houses, all finished spaces within the house must be accessible from other areas of the dwelling without having to go outside. No fire rated walls can separate one part of the dwelling from another.

*A house shall not be considered a single-family residence if it is designed with more than one distinct living area when each area includes at least five of the following elements: bedrooms; three-fourths or larger bathrooms; laundry room; kitchen or area for food preparation; separate water heater; separate direct access from the front side of the property or the garage; separate HVAC system and thermostats; electrical service from subpanels aligned with distinct living areas of the house.