Eugene Weekly readers should determine the truth about ADU regulations for themselves in contrast to accepting Eliza Kashinsky’s false statements (Letters, 10/7).

Eugene has allowed ADUs in single-family neighborhoods for years, verifiable in the city’s building permit records. Existing regulations have not “prevented homeowners” from building ADUs.

Anyone can look up Ordinance No. 20659 to verify what the newly amended code now allows for ADU building heights.

A common ADU form is attached to the main dwelling. The regulations allow that “[f]or any portion of an attached accessory dwelling located within 60 feet of a front lot line … the maximum building height shall be as per Table 9.2750,” which is 30 feet in the R-1 Low-Density Residential Zone. Thirty feet is also the height limit for a wall at the five-foot setback line.

An ADU over a garage (aka “granny flat”) has a maximum wall height of precisely 22 feet, five feet from a neighboring R-1 lot. Only where some portion of an ADU is more than 60 feet from the front lot line, not over a garage, and abuts property that is zoned R-1, etc., is the wall at the five-foot setback limited to 15 feet high. The ADU’s maximum height is 25 feet. See Eugene Code Section 9.2751(17).

There were six appeals that sought to eliminate numerous ADU regulations. The cases comprise LUBA Nos. 2018-063-064, 2018-091, 2019-28, 2019-115, 2020-015, and Court of Appeals No. A173517. These can be reviewed on the LUBA and the Court of Appeals websites.

Paul Conte

Eugene