With St. Paul having recently announced plans to once again tinker with its Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) ordinance, it seemed like an apt time to try to figure out just how many people have taken advantage of the citywide ADU ordinance passed in late 2018, and to see just what they’ve been building. So, on a recent beautiful Saturday, I set off on my bike in search of the 12 ADUs that have been permitted and built in St. Paul under the rules set in 2018.
According to data obtained from the City 10 of the 12 completed ADUs are detached units, and on my ride I discovered that all but one of them is of the over-the-garage variety. The styles and sizes vary somewhat, but the format is pretty much the same: an alley-loaded garage with an internal staircase up to the second-floor ADU. Alley-side photos sometimes miss interesting features, but here are the public facing sides of St. Paul’s garage ADUs:
Three-car garage.
Interesting gable details.
40’x20’ (!), with a side-loading 3-car garage
Split level garage floor due to slope
Garage door still to come.
Built into the slope, so not as tall in the backyard.
The owner of one of these units saw me taking pictures in the alley and graciously offered a tour of her home. She had recently retired from a career teaching in another state, and her ADU was in the backyard of her daughter’s house. She told me it was the perfect solution as it provided the advantages of multigenerational living without everyone having to live under one roof. At 784 square feet, her apartment is a very spacious home for one person and includes a living room, dining room, large kitchen, full bath, washer/dryer nook, pantry, storage closet and a 12’x12’ bedroom. Here are some views of the interior and from the main house:
The one detached ADU that was not built over a garage was also designed for multigenerational living. This property, too, had seen the removal of an old garage, but no new garage was built in its place. Instead, the property owner built a backyard bungalow for her parents, who also moved to St. Paul from out of state to be closer to family. The entry to this ADU faces the backyard rather than the alley, and the large building behind the ADU is actually across the alley.
The remaining two ADUs on my tour were attached units, meaning they are attached to the main dwelling. So far, St. Paul does not have any of the third variety of permitted ADUs, which are internal units located entirely within the main dwelling. The first of the attached units was built as an addition onto a bungalow and the other is part of an attached garage:
Data from the City indicates that, in addition to these 13 ADUs, there are five projects that are in some stage of permit review, six properties where the owner either withdrew an application or otherwise suspended or abandoned the project, four that did not progress beyond the inquiry stage, and two properties with pre-2018 structures that were legalized after the fact under the existing rules.
The Planning Commission is currently looking at ADUs as part of its “1-4 Unit Infill Housing Zoning Study,” which is meant to implement housing and land use policies in the City’s 2040 Plan. Goals of the study include “increased housing affordability, diversified housing options, and moderate increases in residential density as ways to address the current shortage of housing and accommodate the next decade of population growth.”
As part of Phase I of the Study, a number of adjustments to the ADU rules have been proposed. These include eliminating the rule permitting ADUs only on lots of at least 5,000 square feet and relaxing the current 800 square feet size limit for ADUs, to allow them to be up to 75 percent of the size of the main dwelling on the property.
These would be positive changes as far as flexibility is concerned, and ADUs are expected to receive further attention during Phase II of the 1-4 Unit Infill Housing Study. But it’s unclear if these changes will result in more ADUs being built. Conversations with architects and ADU owners indicate that the cost of construction is a barrier, if not the primary barrier, to building more ADUs, with the cost of an over-the-garage model (including the garage) typically starting at around $200,000. Detached ADUs are freestanding, fully equipped houses after all, which are made more expensive in Minnesota due to the cost of insulating them.
One architect who has planned ADUs in St. Paul and elsewhere told me that the pace of construction here matches experiences elsewhere, where it has taken time for people to learn about what is now legal and possible. Another design professional told me that people interested in ADUs love to see examples and suggested that an increase in local examples would lead to more ADUs being built. If that’s the case, perhaps an organized ADU bike tour might help spread the word.