Coastal residents say too many ADUs ruin neighborhoods

SAN DIEGO On June the San Diego City Council voted - to amend the controversial Accessory Dwelling Unit Bonus Campaign The venture attempts to create more affordable housing without over-development but residents we heard from via email and social media were not sure the benefits outweighed the disadvantages We inquired the people if they agreed disagreed with the ADU amendments whether those amendments went far enough or too far in reining in the ADU proliferation We also requested what they felt about the ADU Bonus Plan Here are the received responses Mike Frattali of University City felt ADU amendments do not go far enough in reining in ADUs Residential neighborhoods don t have the infrastructure to advocacy the additional density There are better places to build housing starting with downtown Bonnie Kutch founding member of UC Peeps a coalition of residents and taxpayers in University City concerned about overdevelopment believes ADU regulations are insufficient The City s proposed amendments to the disastrous ADU Bonus Effort don t go far enough she explained They still allow for too several units per parcel in single-family neighborhoods fail to meet the need for affordable housing for families and leave loopholes for profiteers Kutch declared UC Peeps recommends the following ADU changes Allow just one bonus ADU deed restricted for income for each lot in single-family zones and no more than four units total require onsite parking for all ADUs farther than mile from Transit Priority Areas place two-story limits of - to -feet on ADU height prevent bonus ADUs from being built in very high Fire Hazard Severity Zones or on cul-de-sacs or streets with limited access limit ADU square footage to square feet for calculating the number of ADUs allowed regardless of lot size mandate adequate fire safety setbacks from neighboring properties and provide a permit-ready Accessory Dwelling Unit Scheme offering property owners a selection of pre-approved ADU building plans that can be downloaded from the City s website that are attractive Bill Zent of Pacific Beach agrees that more demands to be done to regulate ADUs I have read the amendments and I feel they leave the door open on excessive units on a property he announced There should only be one unit allowed It should be single-story with parking provided on the parcel No two stories are allowed as it impacts backyard privacy No one would have a matter with a single ADU However these build-outs change the neighborhood and can affect a home s value They ve City s gone too far argued Sara Hickmann of Point Loma Heights There should be one ADU allowed on one property That s the name additional dwelling unit Not an apartment complex It cannot be in the front yard it cannot be taller than their current home They need proper permits to meet fire codes and they need to provide parking and you can t have every house on the block building them at the same time they need to manage how much construction is going on in one area at one time The ADU venture has been abused and must be stopped They are threatening the quality of life the safety and sanity of our residents Trudy Grundland of Bird Rock took her ADU comments a step further My new website about San Diego has a page devoted to ADUs WeAreSanDiego org she noted De Stevens of Point Loma Heights sees ADUs as being community-busters ADUs will bring the end of San Diego being a nice place to live she argued adding We hear two million people want to come live in San Diego Did anyone tell people that bulk of the time you live where you should find somewhere without disturbing a whole city that s what the ADUs are doing It is pure greed on the contractors side Let them build units in their backyard and no parking Enough is enough ADU proliferation necessities to be guarded against warned Karen Magnuson of Bay Ho It s one thing to have a granny flat for someone s elderly parent to live close to family but multiple ADUs do nothing but destroy a neighborhood she noted Either there is zoning for single-family dwellings or there isn t Seems like someone is lining their pockets with graft and bribery to make things happen that will only destroy San Diego They are building six ADUs next door noted Judi Curry of Sunset Cliffs She appealed Where are those people going to park What will happen to the water shortage What will the noise be like That s in addition to making the one-story house a two-story house with a sundeck on top It was allowed to happen How Why Who benefits Eliminate all ADU bonuses concluded Eric Law of Fleetridge in Point Loma One ADU per lot No more