City Council approves granny flats, cottage clusters in West Central Independence
INDEPENDENCE, MO. — Cottage clusters, granny flats and other accessory dwelling units (ADUs) aren’t allowed in Independence right now, but soon will be.
On Monday, City Council approved amending the Unified Development Ordinance to approve a West Central Independence Overlay District after nearly five hours of debate.
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The public hearing included people wearing thumbs up buttons, like one community member who cited an AARP article that read “ADU’s promote livable communities.”
“When you start talking about having cluster homes that are only 300 square feet, I don’t see how that’s going to do anything but lower my property value,” another neighbor countered.
The idea approved by a 5-2 vote will allow smaller homes on parcels.
“What we know is people’s housing needs are changing and we want to be sure that we have an opportunity that fits different life styles, different stages of life,” Independence City Councilperson Bridget McCandless said.
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For now, those changes are coming only in West Central Independence, surrounding the Englewood Arts District. They impact 3,700 parcels between Truman Road, 23rd Street, Arlington Avenue, and Crysler Avenue.
Longtime community member and former Englewood Arts Director Monte Short wrote most of the ordinance drawing on communities that have popularized 300 to 900 square foot accessory dwelling units, granny flats and clusters of cottage homes out west.
Some neighbors fear the changes that will go into effect on Halloween.
“You want to come in and you want to take our rights away as a homeowner,” one homeowner told City Council.
Short says the overlay district does the opposite.
“It gives those property owners more rights. It doesn’t take the rights away to build on their own property,” Short said.
The changes makes sense for Englewood Arts Nonprofit Director Teresa Dorsch, which also has a branch geared towards getting artists home loans,
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“It’s about bringing some folks back into the area but also creating some opportunities for the folks that live here to provide opportunity for folks that are aging, along with that is a natural fit for homeownership for artists,” Dorsch said.
“It really is planning ahead to say this area all around this arts district, this is what we want. We want this area to pretty much stay the same, we want the people to live in this area to have more opportunity,” Short said.
The city has created a webpage for more information. It points out permits will still need to be filed and building standards will still need to be upheld, even for these much smaller homes.
Council voted 7-0 to add a protest amendment to the WCIOD, which reads:
All contiguous property owners shall receive 15 days notice of the plan to build an ADU. If more than 50% of contiguous property owners file a letter of protest with the City during the 15 day timeframe, the proposed ADU shall be treated under Section 14-912-02-D Special Uses.
While new for that district, according to research by the city of Independence, ADUs are already allowed in over 20 communities in our area including Belton, Blue Springs, Grandview, KCMO, Lee’s Summit, North Kansas City, Parkville and Raymore.
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