A PROPOSED ordinance on the size of accessory dwelling units ran into opposition at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Garden Grove City Council and was amended to allow for larger buildings (Shutterstock).
Faced with opposition primarily from members of the city’s Vietnamese community, the Garden Grove City Council reversed itself on an ordinance regulating the construction of accessory and junior accessory dwelling units.
On a 5-2 vote Tuesday night – with Councilmembers George Brietigam and Stephanie Klopfenstein dissenting – the council acted to amend a proposed ordinance which would have limited the maximum size of such units to 1,000 square feet, substituting instead 1,200 square feet as the standard.
But the council heard many complaints about the original ordinance. Mayor Pro Tem Kim Nguyen summarized a major aspect of the opposition to the 1,000-square foot rule. “We have a community where 50 percent of the people prefer living in a multi-generational home,” she said.
ADUs can provide housing for family members, but can also be used as rental property.
Opposition on the council centered on issues of crowding, parking shortages, traffic and litter. Brietigam spoke of “more people being crammed into” neighborhoods and how the proliferation of such units would “change the dynamic of Garden Grove.”
Since the original ordinance was amended, the matter will need to come back to the council for a third time for adoption.
Also Tuesday night, the council rejected – on a 4-3 vote – a request by Brietigam to ask city staff to prepare a report on the feasibility of converting Garden Grove from a general law city to a charter city.
