Lot Subdivision for ADUs

[Eric Englin]

Hi all,

I am in a RF-1 zoned row house property with a detached garage (12' x 20' structure) that connects to the alley. It also has a 6' wide path beside the garage to access the alley. I've been looking into converting this garage into a carriage house (technically a second principal dwelling unit). In a perfect world, I'd like it to look like a small starter row house that I could sell to a family member or friend.

It seems like it would be financially cleanest to divide the lot and sell the carriage house as a small starter house, rather than figure out some type of rental or condo conversion. I'd imagine that I would want to create some type of shared use/restriction to maintain access to the back alley for my house through the existing path.

Any thoughts whether lot subdividing is a realistic option?

Thanks for any help here!

Eric

[Ileana Schinder]

Hi Eric,

how are you? Ileana, the architect here. For your design questions I have the typical "Yes... but" answer. Technically speaking you can subdivide any property if/when it complies with zoning minimums: area, accessibility, utilities, etc. This is very lot specific and entails a lot of pre planning. 

I think that the easier path to design a property the way you want is to set up a mini-condo association where each owner occupies a percentage of the property but a shared portion remains common. For example, 100% of the existing property belongs to "The Condo Association"; 25% to owner A (rear smaller structure), 65% to owner B (front larger home) and 20% is shared: yard, access points, etc. This is not very different from a typical condo association layout but, instead of dozens of owners, you only have 2 (or 3). 

Now, here is the design trick, you want to design the accessory structure with the anticipation if you want it to be independent from the main (2 owners) or secondary to the main (1 owner). This decision will condition design features (privacy, size, etc) and how to lay out utilities.

I hope that my "yes... but" answers gives a bit of clarity. Feel free to contact me directly so we can see how your property works and how you can implement your ideas for the short and long term.

All the best and... happy veterans day!

ileana

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DC Accessory Apartments Forum" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to adudc+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/adudc/c7974010-0d9d-45ee-8211-ee29e88b0422n%40googlegroups.com.

--

ileana schinder, Architect

AIA, LEED AP BD+C

i...@ileanaschinder.com
202-381-7463

http://www.ileanaschinder.com

Follow us on Instagram! 

[Jack Becker]

It depends on whether the new carriage house lot (presumably an alley lot) and the residual lot with the principal structure would each conform to the required zoning requirements. In the case of the former, new alley record lots require alleys at least 24’ in width that connect to the main streets which is unfortunately rather rare. Having separate utilities might also present some real challenges. 

Jack Becker

847 997 0076

Architect

On Sat, Nov 9, 2024 at 1:41 PM Eric Englin <erice...@gmail.com> wrote:

--

[Keith Vaughan]

Eric,

Based on your description, this does not sound like a candidate for subdivision; there are many other requirements (side yard, rear yard, occupancy, alley lots, etc.) even if by some chance you had the minimum Lot Square Footage required, which would be 3000SF to get 2 lots.

Keith Vaughan, Owner & Lead Project Development

O (301) 585-6630

C (202) 439-7985

SpectrumDesignBuild.com

   

On Sat, Nov 9, 2024 at 1:41 PM Eric Englin <erice...@gmail.com> wrote:

--