Willow Glen Resident

News

Granny units program response is low; city extends deadline, again

By Eli Segall

San Jose homeowners will have another six months to add a granny unit to their property. The San Jose City Council on May 22 will decide whether to extend the city's secondary-unit pilot program an additional four months after discovering the soon-to-expire program has been largely ignored. The program will now end Oct. 31.

The city launched the program in January 2006 for one year or until 100 permits for secondary units were issued. This is the second time the council has extended the program due to low participation.

There are 57 applications on file; 36 have been approved, and 10 units have already been constructed, according to the most recent city figures from late April.

"There's either not enough people who want to build a secondary unit, or those who look at the criteria see they don't qualify," said Andrew Crabtree of the planning department.

City staff will use this second extension to survey applicants and their neighbors on the impact of granny units.

"We need to make sure secondary units are appropriate for the city before the city commits to a full-blown ordinance," said John Davidson of the San Jose Planning Department.

The city established nearly a dozen prerequisites for qualifying properties: A 6,000-square-foot lot is required for an attached unit, and an 8,000-square-foot lot for a detached unit; there must be one on-site parking space. Those who qualify live predominantly in Council District 6, where properties are long and deep enough to accommodate a second unit, Davidson said. He estimated 40 percent of the applications are from Willow Glen, with several from the Rose Garden.

Granny units were officially banned in San Jose in 1984. The ordinance cited "adverse impacts on the public health, safety and welfare of the community," namely increased traffic and crime and strained city services. If legalized, nearly 26,000 units would have been built by 1990, the ordinance projected.

When the pilot was launched, the city released a pamphlet with a pencil-sketch drawing of a homey, one-room cottage gracing the cover. It was titled "Adding a Guest House: Build the space you need for relatives, visitors and caregivers."

A joint survey last year by the city's housing department and an outside consultant showed that despite the ban, there were approximately 2,000 to 12,000 illegal granny units across San Jose.

The city has scheduled a granny unit open forum on May 31 at Willow Glen Baptist Church.

The survey of pilot program applicants and their neighbors will be presented to the city council this fall.

To learn more about granny units, call 408.535.7837 or visit www.sanjoseca.gov/ planing/zoning/secondunit.asp.