Salt Lake City is pictured at sunset on Friday, April 17, 2020. (Spenser Heaps/Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY— The dubbed “mother-in-law” apartments have become pretty popular over the past few years, and now the Salt Lake City Council is considering making it easier to build more of them.
Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADUs, are basically tiny apartments attached to or built next to a private residential home.
They are currently only allowed to be built on residential land, but the council is now mulling over a proposal to allow them on some non-residential land, and those with apartment buildings.
The proposal would also remove a rule that requires homeowners to get permission to build detached ADUs.
Tuesday night, the Salt Lake City Council heard roughly 45 minutes of comments from around 25 people. Many commenters voiced their concerns about a rule that requires homeowners to always live in the existing home.
The comments were mixed.
“To make it so that I am tied to a spot…even if I want to be able to leave for a moment…it feels like a ball and chain that I’m always stuck to,” said Landon Krazeck. Krazeck cited his desire to potentially travel while also providing a home for his friend.
“I’d like to see programs to help homeowners be able to build an ADU…and help provide a missing piece of the pie when it comes to affordable housing,” said Michelle Watts.
The council voted to table action on the matter for a later date.
According to the city’s website, this was scheduled as the final public comment hearing. A potential vote will be on April 4.
Though, people can still submit comments outside of the meetings via email at council.comments@slcgov.com, or by calling 801-535-7654.