Pasadena's Accessory Dwelling Unit Ordinance Called Out as a 'Poison Pill'

In an open letter to the Pasadena Planning Commission, the city's accessory dwelling unit is called out for its inconsistencies with state law and the city's general plan. The letter from from Jonathan P. Bell, a planner and Pasadena resident, pertains to the Commission's December 14, 2016 public hearing at which it will consider an update to the city's Second Dwelling Unit Ordinance. The letter argues that the existing ordinance not only undermines statewide and local housing policy, but is legally vulnerable. The law's limitations reveal its purpose to be that of preventing accessory dwelling units, or at least limiting them to the very richest residences. For example: 

• The minimum lot size of 15,000 square feet represents an unjust codification of upper-class privilege as it limits new second dwelling units to large parcels owned by wealthier Pasadena residents
• The minimum distance of 500 feet between properties with second dwelling units is an arbitrary and unreasonable bulwark that also constitutes an unjust limitation of one’s right to improve private property
• The prohibition against prefabricated housing and trailers codifies and imposes upper-class aesthetics and values in an otherwise economically and culturally diverse city
• The limit of 20 second dwelling units per year, and 200 units over ten years, callously disregards the urgent housing needs Pasadena has long faced
• The limit of 800 square feet per second dwelling unit is arbitrarily low and does not accommodate the spatial needs of single occupants, couples, or families residing in accessory residences
• The height limit of a single-story not exceeding 17 feet ignores the fact that many long-ago-built legal nonconforming second dwelling units exist above garages in Pasadena
• The ban on a second dwelling unit’s entry being visible from the street is utterly absurd
• The requirement of two covered parking spaces for a second dwelling unit reinforces the unfair minimum lot size of 15,000 square feet insofar as it requires space to develop an entirely new garage/carport for an accessory residence