Residents gathered last night to offer their input on the Division of Planning’s proposal for accessory dwelling units. WUKY’s Dan Collins reports.
A large group crowded the Lexington Senior Center to discuss the ordinance proposal for ADUs, which are secondary housing units on the same lot as a principal dwelling. Examples include attic or basements suites, housing additions, and even separate structures like tiny houses.
Chris Woodall with the Division of Planning says opinions about the proposal are mixed.
“There’s a lot of folks that came out here that were in support of what we were talking about in the proposal and have very specific life circumstances that would lead them to that,” Woodall says. “But then there were also some folks that felt very strongly the other way and feel like this is somewhat of a threat to their neighborhood.”
One of the residents skeptical of the proposal is Patty Draus.
“They are presenting this as ‘Grandma and Grandpa are going to live in your backyard’,” Draus says. She thinks the proposal for ADUs could have unintended consequences.
“I think that landlords are going to take extreme advantage of this and start putting these little shacks on all their rental property,” Draus says, “and it’s going to increase the problems that we have with rental property.”
Despite the disagreement, Woodall says the Division of Planning values the feedback it gets at these sorts of events.
“I think our staff is always willing to have those tough conversations with people,” Woodall says. “And we prefer to have them on a one on one basis so that we can really get to understand the needs and desires of the individual people who felt like they wanted to spend some time to come out here and talk to us about the proposal.”
The hearing for the proposed zone change is scheduled for the end of September.
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