Discussion of a proposed ADU ordinance to return to Reno City Council on July 31

Some background and resources to help inform public discussion

Jul 15, 2024

It looks like the worst of the heat wave is behind us (for now), but please continue to look out for your neighbors, as temperatures remain high. The Washoe County Senior Center is accepting donations of new fans in the box to distribute to seniors through August 31. Fans may be dropped off and picked up from 9-3, Mon-Fri, at 1155 East Ninth Street in Reno. More info on that here.

You can find this week’s calendar of the City of Reno’s Current and Upcoming Meetings and links to their agendas here. Here’s a quick overview:

Monday, 7/15 at 4pm: Arts & Culture Commission
Tuesday, 7/16 at 5:30pm: Recreation & Parks Commission
Tuesday, 7/16 at 5:30pm: Ward 2 NAB
Wednesday, 7/17 at 6:00pm: Reno Planning Commission. Online agenda here.
Thursday, 7/18 at 6:00pm: Ward 4 NAB

Reno City Council will return from their annual summer hiatus on Wednesday, July 24. That agenda hasn’t been posted yet, but we do know of one major item that will be on their July 31 agenda, so I thought I’d provide some background on that today, to help us better prepare for that discussion in two weeks.

ADUs in Reno: where we are in the process

Last week, City staff announced that they will be presenting their initial recommendations on ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units) to City Council on July 31. After that presentation and discussion, City staff will schedule more community meetings to get additional feedback before drafting the ordinance text.

[July 28, 2024 edit: The July 31st Reno City Council agenda has now been posted online here. The ADU ordinance will be discussed under Item D.2.]

These discussions bring ADUs to the forefront more than five years after the Reno Planning Commission and City Council both voted against allowing them in the city. As Anjeanette Damon reported for the Reno Gazette-Journal, City Council voted in November of 2018 to reject a draft ordinance that would have allowed ADUs (sometimes called “granny flats”) in Reno with a wide range of specific provisions and restrictions. A majority of both the Planning Commission and City Council had objected on a number of fronts, including concern that the move would represent an “intensification of neighborhoods,” and the idea was scrapped.

Since then, ADUs have become a topic of increasing discussion and governmental action across the country. As explained on the City’s “Zoning Code Clean-Up” webpage, staff’s new recommendations follow a public survey on ADUs conducted several months ago and a presentation of those survey results to City Council on March 27. If you’d like to review all the materials from that meeting (and watch the discussion), scroll down to item D.1 on the March 27 online agenda, found here. It was covered in a March 28 article from This is Reno, which noted generally positive views of ADUs from Mayor Schieve and Councilmembers Jenny Brekhus, Devon Reese, and Naomi Duerr, some of whom mentioned issues that they’d feel would need to be addressed, such as parking, size constraints, or neighborhood restrictions.

From the City of Reno’s Survey Results - ADUs and STRs, found here.

The pie chart accompanying the results might be a little misleading at first glance, in that they rather counterintuitively used the color red to indicate “yes” and a greenish hue to indicate “no,” so be sure to consult the numbers. The survey found that 67.98% of respondents (1,361 out of 1,988) believed ADUs should be allowed in Reno, while 15.43% (309) said no, and 15.88% (318) said yes but only in certain neighborhoods. Respondents also indicated to what extent they thought any ADU regulations should address issues including parking; whether or not ADUs could be used as short-term rentals; lot sizes; permitted square footage & height; neighborhood compatibility; whether an ADU could be rented to family vs. non-family members, and more.

I’ll provide some resources on other municipalities in a moment, but first let’s take a close look at what City staff is recommending. The full chart on the City’s webpage lists the staff recommendations with brief justifications, but here’s a basic rundown:

No minimum lot size (but would be subject to existing minimum lot size and overall lot coverage limitations for their zoning district)
Maximum ADU size and setback requirements to match existing requirements for “accessory structures” (to allow for conversion of existing structures to ADUs)
One off-street parking space required per ADU (consistent with general parking standards)
Design requirements to match those of guest quarters (more on that below)
No discretionary review required
No neighborhood restrictions
Height limit for ADUs of 29 feet or no taller than the primary structure, whichever is less (to ensure an ADU does not tower over the home)
Limit of one ADU per lot
Allowed in all zoning districts where detached single-family are allowed (the table lists each of those by its zoning code)

Knowing that ADUs are explicitly prohibited in some Reno neighborhoods, I asked Grace Mackedon of City of Reno Development Services last week if those areas would be affected, and she replied “At this time, staff is not recommending overriding anything that is more specific. So any overlays, PUDs, or SPDs that either explicitly allow or prohibit ADUs would not be impacted. However, since council wanted to weigh in before we start our public outreach that is something if council desired, we could look at changing.”

This is an important point, because although a few of those ADU prohibitions are explicitly outlined in City code, dozens of Reno subdivisions, particularly inside the McCarran ring, were established with CC&Rs (Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions) that govern what can be built within them, and that may or may not still be in effect (this also came up with respect to the recent discussions of duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes). These are the same documents that have gained renewed attention in recent years for racist restrictions that are clearly now illegal and unenforceable, but other restrictions within them may still be active and applicable if not specifically revoked, and residents themselves often aren’t even familiar with what they say.

What design standards would be applied to ADUs?

Again, at this point these are just the initial staff recommendations, but since design concerns, compatibility, and community character were among many residents’ concerns last time around, it’s worth looking closely at the requirements for design. The staff recommendations acknowledge that “compatibility is important to be able to preserve neighborhood character,” and suggest that design standards for ADUs follow those currently governing “guest quarters.” Those are found in Reno’s land ordinance Section 18.03.405(i) (right between “Gaming Operation, Restricted” and “Helipad”) and are quite detailed. They include the following:

Additionally, staff are recommending that setbacks and maximum size for ADUs be governed by the same regulations currently applied to accessory structures, as found in Tables 3.6 and 3.7 of Section 18.03.403. These vary a bit for detached accessory structures depending on how a parcel is zoned, so before consulting the tables, you’ll want to make sure you know what zoning district you’re in. Two quick ways are to look up your address on the Washoe County Assessor’s website or enter it in the search window on the top right of the Washoe Regional Mapping System map, click on your parcel number, and look for the code corresponding to Land Zoning.

I’ll include Table 3-7 below, which covers Detached Accessory Structure Dimensional Standards for residential areas zoned SF3, SF5, SF8, SF11, MF14, MF21, and MF30 (Table 3-6 relates to LLR Districts, UT5, UT10, and UT40). That can give you an indication of what staff is recommending for ADUs in each of those zoned areas.

City of Reno Land Development code, Section 18.03.403, Table 3-7, accessed here.

Could ADUs be used as Short-Term Rentals (STRs)?

As the survey indicated, one concern often raised about ADUs is whether they can be used as short-term rentals (Airbnb, VRBO, etc.) that are available to rent for periods of less than a month. Properties throughout Reno are already being operated as STRs, obviously, as a quick glance on any of those websites reveals.

The staff recommendations as posted so far don’t mention any specific regulations pertaining to STRs, so I imagine they are still being formulated, or staff will simply ask City Council for their thoughts on the subject. We’ll know more about that when the July 31 meeting agenda is posted. In the meantime, it’s worth looking at how respondents to the City’s survey felt about them (and note that any new STR ordinance would ostensibly govern their operation in both ADUs, if allowed, and in primary structures, perhaps distinguishing between the two and perhaps not). Here are those survey responses on the matter:

“Should short term rentals (STRs) be allowed in the City of Reno?”

Yes: 44.51% (891)
No: 36.26% (726)
Yes, but only in certain neighborhoods: 18.18% (364)

“What are the key areas that need to be addressed if a short term rental (STR) ordinance is adopted?”

Enforcement of Noise and Parties: 81.57% (1,633)
Protection of Neighborhoods: 66.88% (1,339)
Parking: 62.64% (1,254)
Length of Stay: 47.25% (946)
Other: 16.33% (327)

“If short term rentals (STRs) were allowed in your neighborhood, how likely would you be to using your property as a STR?”

Unlikely: 61.84% (1,238)
N/A I do not own a home: 13.84% (277)
Maybe: 13.44% (269)
Very Likely: 9.14% (183)

How have other places been regulating ADUs?

As I mentioned above, many cities nationwide have been facilitating the construction of ADUs over the past five years as a means of expanding housing options. And let me say from the outset that I find much of the current “NIMBY-YIMBY” rhetoric flying around to be extremely unhelpful; it’s often judgmental and accusatory, perpetuates stereotypes and mischaracterizations, and foments polarization on issues that are actually deeply complex and nuanced (even for each individual), in order to score political points. Let’s not fall into that trap here.

The only way to respectfully and productively work through discussions of important topics like this is to take seriously the beliefs and concerns being expressed on all sides, and try to determine how they can best be addressed to produce outcomes that reasonable people can live with. Reading about how they have been addressed elsewhere can help, so here are some resources I’ve found, to get us started.

https://www.planning.org/knowledgebase/accessorydwellings/

Short-Term Rentals (whether or not related to ADUs)

“Cities Are Cracking Down on Short-Term Rentals. Here’s How” (Curtis Heinzl and Evan Gorelick, Bloomberg.com CityLab, 7/11/2024)
“Short-Term Rentals are Hollowing Out Communities with Loose Restrictions” (Roshan Abraham, NextCity.org, 2/29/2024)
“What Does Banning Short-Term Rentals Really Accomplish?” (Sophie Calder-Wang, Chiara Farronato, and Andrey Fradkin, Harvard Business Review, 2/15/2024)
Short Term Rental Permits in Washoe County (NOTE: These regulations are ONLY pertinent to unincorporated Washoe County, not the City of Reno, and are being linked here for informational purposes only.)
“Short-Term Rentals in Nevada” (Research Division of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, 2021)

There’s a lot more out there, of course, so I invite you to explore these issues on your own as well, and feel free to add links to other articles and resources you find helpful in the comments. It’s my hope that reading up on other communities’ experiences with ADUs and STRs, and fully understanding precisely what staff is recommending here, can help promote a more fruitful and informed discussion on July 31 and beyond.

Once the July 31st Council agenda is available, I’ll likely have some more thoughts based on the Staff Report and other posted materials, if any. And I’ll be back next week with a preview of the July 24th City Council meeting—the agenda for that one will be posted later this week, so keep an eye on the Meetings page for that.

That’s all for today. Enjoy your week!

Be sure to check out my Citizen Guide for helpful resources and links for anyone hoping to become more informed and engaged in issues related to urban development (& more) in Reno.

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