AB 2071: Accessory dwelling units: owner occupancy.

Session Year: 2017-2018
House: Assembly
Latest Version Date: 2018-08-06

Version:

Existing law declares that a public entity is not liable for an injury caused by the issuance, denial, suspension, or revocation of, or by the failure or refusal to issue, deny, suspend, or revoke, any permit, license, certificate, approval, order, or similar authorization where the public entity or an employee thereof is authorized by enactment to determine whether that authorization should be issued, denied, suspended, or revoked.This bill would provide that the City of Los Angeles is not liable for an injury or for damage that has arisen from or is related to the use of an accessory dwelling unit and that is caused by any utility system, including, but not limited to, a water system or electrical system equipment, that the city designed, owns, operates, or maintains if the city has permitted the utility system equipment and the accessory dwelling unit or structure being converted to an accessory dwelling unit to remain in the same location as it existed prior to January 1, 2018. The bill would limit the application of this provision to specified structures constructed prior to January 1, 2018, that, at the time of the injury or damage, the owner was attempting to bring or had brought into compliance with applicable rules, regulations, or ordinances.

The Planning and Zoning Law authorizes a local agency to provide by ordinance for the creation of accessory dwelling units in single-family and multifamily residential zones. That law sets forth the standards that the ordinance is required to impose, including, but not limited to, parking, height, setback, lot coverage, landscape, architectural review, maximum size of a unit, and standards that prevent adverse impacts on any real property that is listed in the California Register of Historic Places. Existing law requires the local agency to ministerially approve an application for a building permit to create within a single-family zone one accessory dwelling unit per lot if the unit is contained within the existing space of a single-family residence or accessory structure. In this instance, existing law authorizes a city to require owner-occupancy for either the primary residence or the accessory dwelling unit.

The Planning and Zoning Law also authorizes a local agency to provide by ordinance for the creation of junior accessory dwelling units in single-family residential zones. Existing law requires this ordinance to require owner-occupancy in the single family residence in which the junior accessory dwelling unit will be permitted, except in instances when the owner is another governmental agency, land trust, or housing organization.

This bill would require, when a local agency or ordinance requires owner-occupancy pursuant to the above-described provisions, the lot that contains the accessory dwelling unit or the single family residence in which the junior accessory dwelling unit is located to be deemed to be owner-occupied if the lot or single family residence is owned by a trust in which at least one beneficiary of the trust is a person with a disability and that person occupies the primary residence, accessory dwelling unit, or any part of the single-family residence.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Los Angeles.

Discussed in Hearing