You might be familiar with granny pods, in-law flats, carriage houses or casitas, all falling under the category of the colorless term, “Accessory Dwelling Units” or ADUs.
Built on the same property as primary residences, these sidekick spaces can serve as suites for visitors or aging parents, office or studio space, or as rental properties for homeowners looking to make some extra cash.
According to Bob Newren, sales manager for AAA Home Improvements, a Lakewood-based contractor that has built a considerable number of ADUs, these structures can be detached, attached or conversional.
• A detached ADU can be a garage on the main level with an apartment unit above it, or an ADU with a garage attached.
• An attached ADU shares a wall with the main home with a lock off, assuring privacy between the main home dwellers and guests or renters in the ADU.
• A conversional ADU means taking an existing garage, basement or living space of an existing dwelling and converting it into an ADU.
Newren says the advantages of ADUs are “extra income, increased property values, security of elderly family members being close to home, and additional living space.”
Depending on location, Newren says an ADU can increase the property’s value up to 30%, and improve resale value up to 50%.
Disadvantages include “increased property taxes, loss of land taken up by the ADU, increased utility costs, maintenance of the ADU and possible opposition by neighbors or homeowners associations.
There are many factors to consider when deciding whether to add an ADU to your property:
• What will it cost and what is the return on investment?
• If living in the city of Denver, the sewer line will need to be replaced if it runs under the ADU.
• An electrical panel may be necessary.
• If built close to the adjacent property, pier retentions will need to be added before excavation starts to ensure stable ground.
• Fire rated material will need to be used.
• If one lives in a historical district, all plans and material must be approved by the city’s historical preservation authorities before obtaining a building permit.
According to the website, Denverite, Denver homeowners typically ask builders to build a two-car garage with a one-bedroom ADU above, which can cost from $260,000 to $315,000. Building a freestanding ADU in the yard could bring the cost down to $220,000 or so. Remodeling an existing garage or basement could be less expensive.
One of the first pieces of information to obtain before building an ADU is the size of your property. You probably have this information in your annual property tax statement from the city or county.
In Denver, go to denvergov.org/ zoning to access the zoning code and link to a city map, which will allow you to determine your zone district. With this information and your lot size, you’ll be able to figure out whether an ADU is allowed in your neighborhood.
For example, if you have a “TU” in your zone district or a “1” at the end of it, that means ADUs are allowed. The City and County of Denver says:
• Your ADU must have its own address.
• If you’re in a single-unit zone district (meaning you live in a stand-alone house), you (the owner) have to live on-site, in the primary residence or in the ADU.
• Whenever feasible, the dwelling’s utilities have to be shared with the primary house.
• You’re going to pay almost all the same permitting fees that you would if you were building a primary residence.
• In single-unit zone districts, you can’t sell your ADU separately from the main property.
• Only licensed general contractors are allowed to construct these units in Denver.
In Arapahoe County, ADUs are allowed in all agricultural and most residential zoning districts on lots of at least 5,000 square feet.
The controversial land use bill recently defeated by the Colorado legislature would have given the state the authority to allow the construction of more ADUs in Colorado’s cities, which many people fear would increase population density.
“There are too many open-ended issues that can cause a real burden to the city in the long run. Right now, both sides have valuable points that need further discussion,” says Newren.
ADUs are not at all that new to Denver. They have been around since the origins of Denver, in the form of a “carriage house.” A carriage house was a separate living quarters for the storage of horse drawn carriages and horses, and for servants of the main house to live, some date back as far as the 1880s. They were small scale separate buildings, often at the rear of the property, usually accessed from the alley, in order to easily pull in a carriage.
Servants of the main house would live above the carriage storage, in a loft or a full second story.
Many of Denver’s more historic and affluent neighborhoods have existing carriage houses on their property and over time many have been converted into separate, still sell-able parcels.
You can find many historic carriage homes in Denver’s older neighborhoods like Baker, Capitol Hill, Curtis Park, City Park West, Congress Park, Cole, Whittier, Speer, Country Club, West Washington Park and Platt Park.
What happened to the ADUs? It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when ADUs fell out of favor in the eyes of Denver’s zoning. In 1925 Denver adopted its first zoning code, which consisted only of three districts: residential, hotel and office. The residential district didn’t have any limitations to the number of units that were allowed on a property. But in 1954, a new zoning code introduced Single-Unit (SU) only districts, and began to limit the number of dwelling units on a property to just one in these districts and began stipulating that “a family” could only live in a single dwelling.
Some cities have experienced high-speed growth in the development of Accessory Dwelling Units.
Portland, Ore., has become the leading city in the ADU movement in the US. Vancouver is the city with the most ADUs in North America. The city of Austin, Texas has also experienced a substantial bump in the development of ADUs since the passing of legislative zoning changes in 2015.
ADUs have increased in desirability and popularity in recent years for the reasons but they also provoke some opposition from people concerned about increased population density and the character of their neighborhoods.
ADUs are an old concept enjoying a renaissance, reflecting the lifestyles and values of 21st century Coloradans.
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