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The Planning Commission on Wednesday will consider amendments to the city’s zoning ordinance that would make it easier for property owners to create accessory dwelling units, also known as secondary, or in-law, units.  

Under the proposed amendments, developers would no longer be required to get a use permit to build accessory dwelling units in most residentially zoned areas that conform to a certain set of standards. 

The city is required to make the changes under a state law, passed in 2002, that was intended to increase the number of secondary units throughout the state. The city is also compelled to ease the establishment of accessory residential units under its own general plan, which contains a policy to encourage property owners to develop secondary units on properties with single-family homes as a way to increase housing stock. 

Under the current system, property owners seeking to establish a secondary unit must get approval from the Zoning Adjustment Board, which determines whether to approve a use permit after conducting a public hearing and considering whether to approve the project based on both subjective and objective factors. The new ordinance would simply require an issuance of a zoning certificate and a building permit if the developer has complied with all of the standards outlined in the ordinance. 

Those standards include requirements that the total floor area of the secondary unit not exceed 25 percent of the main dwelling unit and that the total floor area of the secondary unit be no less than 300 square feet and no more than 640 square feet. The law would also make it illegal for a property owner to sell any part of the accessory unit separate from the main unit or for accessory units to be built on streets that lack sufficient room for emergency response, as specified in the California Fire Code. 

Secondary units that do not comply with any of the base standards may still get approved through a slightly more restrictive process. In that case, an officer of the zoning department must issue an administrative use permit which, unlike a use permit, does not automatically trigger a public hearing, but does require the approving zoning officer to post his or her decision in the neighborhood. Neighbors are then free to appeal the administrative use permit and demand a public hearing. 

The ordinance also eliminates the requirement that a developer who wants to convert a portion of a main unit into an accessory unit, thereby reducing the floor space of the main unit, get the permission of any tenant occupying the main unit. 

Senior planner Janet Homrighausen said the city has no estimate of how many housing units the new ordinance will create. “Most cities have yet to relax their requirements and still require use permits for accessory units,” she said. “So we have no other examples to look to to come up with an idea of how many units will be created.” 

The Planning Commission is also scheduled to discuss proposed revisions to the Southside Plan, which specifies the city’s long-term policies and goals for housing, land use, traffic, urban design, economic development and traffic in the area south of UC Berkeley campus. The plan is a joint project of the city and the university, which owns about one-third of the land in the southside area. 

The plan was approved by the commission last June and was set to undergo the required environmental impact review, but has since been stalled due to the university’s reluctance to sign on to certain aspects of the plan and because of the city’s own lack of funds. 

At the meeting on Wednesday, commissioners will respond to a letter sent by Thomas Lollini, assistant vice chancellor of physical and environmental planning, which requests that the city delete a portion of the plan that calls for the consideration of a proposal to reduce or eliminate automobile traffic on Bancroft, Telegraph and Durant to help speed up AC Transit bus flow along those corridors and calm traffic for the benefit of bicyclists and pedestrians. The university is also taking issue with a part of the plan that says the university should make housing development the highest development priority for the southside neighborhood. 

In addition, the letter asks the plan be amended to allow for the expansion of the areas in the Southside that are zoned for office use. 

The commission is also expected to respond to a letter from staff dated March 26 that states that the city no longer has sufficient funds to finance an environmental impact report for the plan, which has been in the works for five years. 

The Planning Commission meets Wednesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St.