The City of Waynesboro is exploring an ordinance to allow cottage court housing to potentially give residents access to more affordable housing options.
Leslie Tate, the director of community development, shared a final draft of the new housing ordinance Wednesday night with Waynesboro City Council. The ordinance, if approved by City Council, would allow for a grouping of tiny houses to be built on some of the city’s existing infill lots.
The Waynesboro Planning Commission recommended the approval of cottage court housing at its Sept. 17 meeting.
A public hearing will be held on Nov. 25 in City Council chambers, and final approval could come as early as Dec. 9.
Preliminary data from a regional housing study showed that there is a need for smaller one- to two-bedroom units in the city. The study found that one- to two-person households make up 65 percent of all households in the city, but housing units with three or more bedrooms make up 70 percent of the region’s housing options.
Waynesboro City Council member Terry Short, who was re-elected to a four-year term on Nov. 5, said he views cottage court housing as an exciting tool to add to the portfolio of homes available in the city. He also acknowledges that City Council’s approval could open the floodgates in what he calls “uncharted territory.”
During the Nov. 13 meeting, Short, for example, said he wondered what the first two or three applications might look like if some of the language isn’t tightened up. Short said a lot of his questions for staff are “what-ifs,” but he said he thinks it’s important to ask those questions now.
Short advocated for more specific language while also offering flexibility for property owners to come before City Council for exceptions to the zoning.
“I don’t think the intent of this is so that a developer acquires a parcel, 10,000 square feet, and goes and builds four tiny lots, cottages, and then goes and rents them out for $1,500 a month,” Short said. “That’s not the goal here.”
Short asked Tate to look at the Tree Streets where the average parcel is closer to 7,500 square feet and wouldn’t qualify under the current draft if the ordinance which requires a minimum of 10,000 square feet for four units. Tate said a compromise could be to allow two units on a smaller lot.
City Council member Jim Wood said he didn’t want to forget about existing homeowners in areas like the Tree Streets and wanted to make sure that language in the ordinance would cover the amount of space between properties in a neighborhood.
“I understand the need for affordable housing, starter homes, but we need to think about the neighbors as well,” Wood said.
Short said he would like to see some safeguards set up to prevent developers from buying up property under the new zoning and charging above-market rates for the rentals.
“The whole point of this is to create affordable access to starter homes, and I do fear that you could see companies like BlackRock or whatever, kind of coming into the community and buying up a bunch of parcels, and then just dumping these things out, and then charging $1,500 a month because they are going to make six grand in rent every month,” Short said.
“The intent here, the purpose, is to drive down the cost of home ownership for folks in one-, two- person households. Period.”
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Crystal Graham
