From rental income to in-law or adult child accommodations the rules around accessory dwelling units – or ADUs – vary from town to town, township to township and borough to borough throughout the 54 municipalities that make up Bucks County.
If you’re considering adding or building an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) contact your municipal zoning officer for information, requirements and restrictions about what is – or is not – allowed on your property.
“Where ADU regulations do exist most of them have some kind of family restriction, which means they are not permitted to be rented to non family members,” said Evan Stone, executive director of Bucks County Planning Commission in Doylestown.
Stone said one of the biggest concerns regarding ADUs is that they become rental units on a property where a rental outside a family member is not allowed.
To take the idea of an income producing rental unit off the table some municipalities will allow an ADU – provided the property owner agrees to certain restrictions on its use.
Conditions can translate to deed restrictions or covenants (a promise to refrain from use) on the property, which could transfer from owner to owner when the property sells.
Stone said some ADUs are permitted by zoning special exception, “which means you have to go to the zoning hearing board and present your case.”
For zoning variance requests a property owner would need to contact the municipal office with the request to be placed on the zoning hearing board’s schedule.
Site plans, a description of what would be built, the intended use and non refundable fee would be part of the application process.
Fees are set and paid in advance of the meeting, which does not guarantee the zoning relief will be granted, Stone said.
“Zoning isn’t always flexible and adaptable... and it becomes costly and time consuming. Going through the process also doesn’t mean you’ll get the requested zoning approval,” he said.
In other places ADUs may be allowed by conditional use, where the property owner must apply and present their case. For conditional uses the appropriate municipal board would impose reasonable conditions on the ADU.
“Conditional use and special exception use for ADUs would be part of a municipality’s zoning process, and they are made are on a case-by-case basis,” Stone said.
Some ADU uses are limited to specific residential zones, while others may be allowed in all or some non-resident zones – such as commercial or industrial zoning districts, Stone said.
“We have a few municipalities that don’t appear to have any regulations,” according to Stone, but that doesn’t mean they allow the construction or use of ADUs within their borders.
In Doylestown Borough Zoning Director Karyn Hyland said the residential district will be a factor in whether or not an ADU can even be considered.
The size of the property must also be large enough to support two dwellings where an ADU is a stand alone building request, she said.
“In the R1 zoning district, which is the largest lot size and least amount of density” in Doylestown Borough a property must be at least 40,000 square feet, to accommodate a primary house and an ADU, she said.
“The land size is just shy of one acre,” Hyland said. One acre equals 43,560 square feet.
In the R2 district, where a single unit requires 13,500 square feet of land, a property must be at least 27,000 square feet to accommodate a primary house and an ADU, she said.
Distances for “building separation requirements” as well as setbacks are part of the review process for an ADU, the same way they are part of any land development project, according to Hyland.
“I think municipalities will need to revisit and rethink (ADU uses) in coming years, as land becomes more scarce...and land areas become more limited,” Stone explained.
“And as people continue to age we will need to think differently about how people can use their properties,” he said.
Join our readers whose generous donations are making it possible for you to read our news coverage. Help keep local journalism alive and our community strong. Donate today.
