Community Planning Collaborative

Here’s a great new article from the North Bay Business Journal about the ADU Plans Gallery. It does a particularly great job reporting on the whole policy and program landscape for pre-approved ADU plans - from the timeline created by AB 1332 to the hard work of Scott Johnson on the The ADU Center coordinating jurisdictions across multiple counties. https://lnkd.in/gSfJQyrB

We are excited to share the news that our Mother Lode ADU project was selected by APA California - Northern for a Best Practices - Excellence Award. See the website we designed and developed as part of the project: https://motherlodeadu.org/, and stay tuned as we begin to launch an ADU Plans Gallery for each of the four counties that we worked with on this project.

Happy back-to-school week! To celebrate the start of another year of teaching and learning, we wanted to share another spotlight story from Brenda and Donal as part of our ADU Marin project. This couple - both retired teachers - was inspired to convert a detached garage into an ADU so that they could provide affordable housing to a teacher in their community. “We moved into this house in 1967. Even back then we were seeing how hard it was getting to live and work in Marin. We were thinking about building an ADU for a while. We had a garage that was falling apart, but Donal was reluctant to give it up at first. What tipped him over was offering it as teacher housing, since him and I are retired teachers. We are in good health but know at some point we will slow down and could use it for caretakers or caregivers or move into the ADU with family in the main house. In the meantime, we wanted to help with the shortage of housing for teachers. We found a fabulous architect that guided us through the process, who found us a great contractor. Once it was built, we were all really happy. It’s a really cool looking place. Our contractor considers it a highlight of his building work and brought his son and wife out to see it. We put the word out to public schools like Redwood High School where Donal taught. Eventually, we found someone from my old school that was commuting two and half hours a day from the East Bay. Having a wonderful tenant and seeing the life it brings to her and us, made this really worth it. I can’t emphasize enough how useful having an ADU will be for us in the future. And being able to provide housing priced below market for teachers is great.”

Thanks The Architect's Newspaper Newspaper for this great article about the #ADU Plans Gallery. We’ve worked closely with architects and prefab ADU designers for years to support ADU development, especially in making the ADU Plans Gallery. The Gallery program connects designers with homeowners and jurisdictions and is a free, user-friendly source of marketing across the state, opening up potentially new paths for revenue by allowing designers to sell their designs multiple times. We’re always looking for that win-win-win between local governments, homeowners, and designers!

Last week we launched the demo of our ADU Plans Gallery at ADUGallery.org. This week, we’d like to share the story of Julie and Tim from ADU Marin, a perfect example of the flexibility ADUs can provide and of a beautiful prefabricated ADU design. This type of story is exactly why we are so excited about releasing the ADU Plans Gallery and helping jurisdictions launch their local galleries. “My husband was raising two boys full-time, and when we got married, the oldest was graduating from high school soon and the youngest wanted to go to boarding school. We told him if he could get himself in, he could go, and he did. Our house is on the small side, around 1100 square feet, but now we had two extra bedrooms and an under-used backyard. So, we thought why not build another unit and invest in our biggest asset. I’m not sure from the onset if we knew what we would do, but by the time the project was complete, we knew we’d live there. It was an easy enough transition. We already didn’t have a ton a stuff and without the kids we could get rid of more. We designed the ADU for outdoor living, with a single-car garage door that opens up to make the space larger, and we use the front yard for entertaining. We rent out the house to a single woman with a four-year-old, who is an interior design buyer and keeps it immaculate. We lucked out. It’s simpler and easier to live in an ADU. We have a smaller footprint with less stuff and will be able to have the mobile lifestyle we want. Before we were both working full-time in San Francisco and killing ourselves. Now, we don’t need two incomes. Eventually, we hope to live six months here and six months of the year in places like San Jose del Cabo, Mexico.”

ADU Plans Gallery Demo now available! After years of working with local governments to accelerate ADU development, we are excited to share the demo for our ADU Plans Gallery. See the demo at ADUGallery.org. Starting this fall, city and county governments can customize and launch their own local Plans Galleries, including ADU designs they own or have pre-approved for building code compliance. Sign up to build a custom gallery for your jurisdiction at https://lnkd.in/gt-YVe8e. In the meantime, everyone can use this demo to browse our growing database of designs and connect directly with designers to make their ADU dreams a reality. ?? Why an ADU Plans Gallery? ?? ADUs are a major source of new housing units in California, especially housing that is affordable for seniors, young families, and the local workforce. Plans Galleries help homeowners save time and money, connecting them with talented designers and existing designs. Plus, California state law AB1332 requires all jurisdictions to have a process for pre-approving ADU plans and listing those plans online as of January 1, 2025. ?? What’s next? ?? Jurisdictions can sign up now to launch their own local Plans Gallery before January 1, 2025 at https://lnkd.in/gt-YVe8e. The tool includes a simple interface for adding locally pre-approved plans and allows you to add plans from our design database, which includes high-quality site-built and prefabricated designs by talented designers and ADU companies. ?? Stay tuned as we begin to launch local galleries for the 40+ jurisdictions we are currently working with! #ADU #ADUs #accessorydwellingunit #affordablehousing #housingdevelopment #localgovernment #california #civicinnovation #productlaunch

Check out this great ADU tour in San Mateo County – hosted by one of our ADU design partners, Inspired ADUs. This is a great way to get inspiration for ADUs projects and see real-world examples of how ADUs are designed and used.

It’s almost here! We are gearing up to launch the statewide ADU Plans Gallery to the public. If you are a homeowner in California, or know someone who is, then stay tuned for our launch of the statewide California gallery. Our free-to-use, public tool will allow anyone to browse our growing database of high-quality prefabricated and site-built ADU plans and connect directly with those designers to make their ADU dreams a reality. Starting later this summer, local governments across the state will begin launching custom gallery sites featuring locally pre-approved ADU plans as well as other recommended plans available to purchase or use for free. Check out the video below to see how it all works - and stay tuned for our launch!

We’ve recently seen some really exciting advances in prefabricated ADUs and have learned a lot about the different construction technologies. For our new ADU Plans Gallery tool, we require prefabricated ADUs to be certified by either a state or federal agency. What does that mean? Different types of construction are certified by different agencies: Manufactured housing is certified and inspected by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This program was developed for mobile housing but has expanded into the ADU space in recent years. HUD defines these as follows: “HUD Code manufactured homes are portable homes completely constructed in a factory. This type of home is built on a non-removable steel frame and transported to its final destination with minimal on-site assembly required. HUD Code manufactured homes must comply with a single national standard defined by HUD that ensures the quality, safety, and energy efficiency of these homes.” – HUD Brief The other category of certified prefabrication is factory-built, which includes modular. For now, the ADU Plans Gallery is limited to California, so we look for certification and inspection by the California Department of Housing and Development (HCD). HCD defines factory-built housing (FBH) and components as: “FBH are residential structures manufactured wholly or partially offsite, in sections, or building components which are assembled at the installation site to form part of, or most of a completed unit. FBH components may consist of wall, floor or roof panels utilizing rigid foam insulation enclosed by interior and exterior sheathing materials (structural insulated panels); or may be a conventionally framed closed-system wall or roof panel containing the plumbing, electrical, and other systems enclosed within interior and exterior panels.” Factory-Built Housing Handbook Photos courtesy of Blokable, Inc.