Apartment-sized ADU homes close to approval. Manatee’s new commissioners will decide
Manatee County is close to allowing small, apartment-style units to be built in addition to primary structures in certain neighborhoods, but it may come down to newly elected commissioners.
“Accessory dwelling units” have come before the Board of County Commissioners before, but the details are being fine-tuned and will be finalized on Dec. 10. Three commissioner-elects — James Satcher, Kevin Van Ostenbridge and George Kruse — who won their elections on Tuesday will be sworn in on Nov. 17.
County staff have been looking to add ADUs into the Land Development Code for several years. The addition would allow homeowners to construct attached or detached units to their homes.
“As proposed, it’s an attached or detached residential unit that’s subordinate or separate from a primary unit, with full kitchen and bathroom facilities,” said Bill O’Shea, a planner with the county’s Building and Development Services Department.
The allowed size of an ADU depends on a home’s zoning district. In residential single-family neighborhoods, the current board agrees that the maximum size should be between 650 and 750 square feet. In agricultural zoning, staff are recommending a limit of 1,000 square feet.
According to O’Shea, a general analysis of Manatee’s subdivisions shows that most of the county isn’t eligible for ADU permitting due to lot size, zoning and other factors. ADUs will not be allowed in coastal high hazard zones.
“There really isn’t a lot of room to construct even the smallest of ADUs,” he explained.
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John Barnott, director of the Building and Development Services Department, previously told commissioners that the cost of building an ADU will likely pose a significant hurdle for most homeowners looking to develop one as an attachment or addition to their home.
“The average construction cost in Manatee County is about $200 to $250 per square foot,” Barnott said at an August work session. “An ADU is not something you’re going to slap up overnight. It takes a lot of thought as to what you’re doing.”
That puts a 650-square-foot ADU at around $150,000. The city of Bradenton has allowed ADUs for about 10 years, and there hasn’t been a major influx of that housing type, according to Glen Gibellina, a member of Bradenton’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board.
“You will find that no one’s running down to the planning department to permit these $100,000 homes,” Gibellina said.
Some of the county’s requirements will also prevent a swarm of ADU permits. ADUs must provide at least one off-street parking spot and meet certain setback requirements. Those requirements address some of the key concerns from residents who said they feared ADUs would create street parking issues.
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“I want to make sure existing neighborhoods are protected while allowing this new opportunity,” said Commissioner Misty Servia.
Most commissioners said they were content with the draft ordinance that would allow ADUs, but the board is losing three commissioners who won’t have the final say. Commissioners Betsy Benac and Stephen Jonsson are stepping down, and Commissioner Priscilla Whisenant Trace lost her re-election bid to Satcher in the Republican primary in August.
“The reality, Bill, is you’re going to have a different board,” Benac told O’Shea, who requested more guidance from the board before December’s final hearing. “It doesn’t make sense to get a consensus from this board.”
“It doesn’t matter what any of us think on this board because we’re going to have three different commissioners,” said Commissioner Vanessa Baugh, who took issue with certain aspects of the proposed ADU ordinance.
The Board of County Commissioners is set to make a final decision on ADU homes at a Dec. 10 Land Use meeting.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 12:00 AM.
