Tampa aims to ease rules for ADUs while keeping tabs on potential ‘unintended consequences’ | Tampa Bay News | Tampa

Today, the Tampa City Council moved to relax the rules for using accessory dwelling units (ADUs), while raising concerns about how they will be used.

ADUs are generally smaller than one-bedroom apartments and often come in the form of mother-in-law suites, tiny houses, and garage apartments. The size of the units makes them potentially more affordable, while still providing all the important aspects of an apartment.

Currently, ADU rules are more relaxed in the Seminole Heights and Lowry Park area of ​​Tampa, making them easier to use as housing. Today, city staff presented the council with the possibility of relaxing the rules in the same way for several other neighborhoods, including Tampa Heights and Central Tampa, West Tampa, parts of Westshore and sections of the USF zone. .

Parts of South Tampa are considered coastal high-risk areas, and many parts of New Tampa are under deed restrictions, so those areas are not yet included in the government’s easing plans. ‘ADU. But Hyde Park and Davis Island can be included as permitted areas for ADUs, staff found.

Council approved the first stage of loosening the rules for ADUs by a 5-2 vote, citing the housing crisis and the urgency to increase housing in the area.

“We are in desperate need of housing,” Councilor Lynn Hurtak said.

Hurtak continued that she and other council members have concerns that need to be addressed about ADUs, but that the council cannot “keep kicking the streets” on housing.

Council members Guido Maniscalco, Luis Viera and Orlando Gudes also weighed in and supported loosening the ADU rules. Councilors Bill Carlson and Charlie Miranda voted against the motion, saying there were not enough details in the city plan to relax the rules.

The board asked a lot of questions about safety and code measures for ADUs. They also debated whether ADU owners should also live on the same property as the unit.

This is only the first step towards a relaxation of the rules for ADUs. An ordinance still needs to be drafted and then come back to council for a first reading in December, director of development and growth management Abbye Feeley told the council.

Several board members, including Carlson and Viera, pointed out that if ADUs aren’t used for affordable housing and instead are used for Airbnbs — as hundreds of landlords mentioned in a recent survey — it could spell trouble. for tenants.

“Councillor Carlson mentioned Airbnb, it’s a concern for a lot of people,” Councilor Viera said. “And that’s something where if we go ahead with the ADUs, which I support, I think that’s a smart thing to do, especially right now with our housing crisis. But we obviously have to measure and keep an eye out for any unintended consequences. We just have to keep up to date with that.

During the meeting, Nathan Hagen of YIMBY Tampa pointed out that Airbnbs cannot be regulated by the city even if it wanted to, because the city is preempted by state law.

He also mentioned recent reports about the potential effects of using ADUs like Airbnbs.

“Last week there was an article about ADUs in Creative Loafing that said ADUs were a gentrifying force,” Hagen said. “And it’s a complex problem that I don’t have, I can’t try to guide us here in three minutes.”

What Hagen didn’t mention is that the article was actually focusing on the hundreds of landlords saying they would use ADUs like Airbnb, not ADUs in general leading to gentrification.

Across the country, economic studies have repeatedly proven that a large volume of Airbnb rentals in a city leads to gentrification. Hagen also argued that South Tampa and New Tampa should not be left out of the ADU easing.

He argued that the failure to relax the rules for ADUs in the “wealthier parts of Tampa” was “highly visible.”

“I think everyone can see through that,” Hagen said.

Stephanie Poynor, president of the Tampa Homeowner Association of Neighborhoods, spoke directly to Hagen during her comments to the council.

“First of all, I want to address Mr. Hagen by implying that there is no poverty south of Gandy,” Poynor said. “We bear the weight [of the housing crisis] in the four square miles where I live.

Poynor went on to say she supports ADUs, but reminded the council that parts of Tampa are at high risk of flooding, saying if Hurricane Ian had hit South Tampa there would have been flooding. devastating and deadly.

“You know, everything here would have been underwater,” Poynor said. “So at this point it’s about: how many people do you want to drown?”