A member of the city of Sarasota's Planning Board arguing against allowing accessory dwelling units on non-owner-occupied properties: "What if it was like, Monsanto that decided to come in & buy up all the affordable housing in these neighborhoods and started doing these ADUs?"

Following Wednesday's Planning Board meeting, the advisory board recommended ADU regulations that would:

-Allow ADUs in four neighborhoods
-Require a property owner to occupy one of the units on any site
-Require units be rented to people making ≤100% of area median income

Planning Board member Terrill Salem advocated for allowing ADUs by right citywide. Other board members said ADUs should only be permitted if neighborhoods "opt in." One board member suggested formal neighborhood association support should be a prerequisite for changing zoning.

But in 2018, a city-commissioned report from the Florida Housing Coalition repeatedly recommended broadly permitting ADUs as part of an affordable housing strategy. It specifically criticized the idea of letting neighborhoods opt-in to an ADU policy as insufficient.

When Planning Board members suggested staff should reach out to every neighborhood to get buy-in for ADUs, Planning Director Steve Cover said: "For us to go to everyone and ask whether they want to be a part of it or not, it’ll take years to come back to the Planning Board."

I think that highlights a big obstacle for anyone who supports broad zoning changes in the city. ADUs were just one out of 12 affordable housing recommendations from FHC. If getting *just that* done could take years, what's the timeline for anything more ambitious?

"David we loved this thread so much, but I wish it was in article form!" is what you are all constantly telling me these days. Well, good news https://www.yourobserver.com/article/sarasota-planning-board-accessory-dwelling-units-affordable-housing