Napa County earmarks funds to help homeowners build second units

Napa County will expend $9 million to test to spur the design of accessory dwelling units — typically identified as “granny flats” or “second units” — and beef up a housing loan system.

Of that, $7 million is coming from the $26.75 million the county was awarded last 12 months in federal American Rescue Program Act revenue. County officials have mentioned they want to spend the pandemic stimulus windfall on “transformational” attempts.

The county Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday that a force to stimulate accent dwelling unit construction suits the invoice.

“This is a historic chance for us,” County Govt Officer Minh Tran stated.

The other $2 million is coming from the county’s cost-effective housing fund. This is money gathered by way of developer impression expenses.

Angwin resident Kellie Anderson has a second device on her home. It residences a youthful couple working in the hospitality market.

“They’re great,” she informed supervisors. “It provides to my daily life. It will help me with my fiscal stability. I can really see the working day when I go stay there and any individual else goes and life in my home.”

Tran stated incentivizing the creation of accessory dwelling units gives inexpensive housing, cuts down on the commuting workforce and lowers greenhouse fuel emissions.

“For us, ADUs is definitely a acquire-acquire for all,” he mentioned.

County officials said the many accessory dwelling unit applications, after in position, could present as much as $100,000 in financial loans and other aid for very low-to-middle income homeowners to create second units on their properties.

Accent dwelling models are generally 400 to 1,000 square toes. These impartial homes have their own kitchen and lavatory aside from the primary residence.

Supervisor Brad Wagenknecht supports the effort to spur accessory dwelling device development. He also stated some people today are nervous about the prospect of a bunch of backyard properties coming to their neighborhoods and bringing website traffic.

Which is a anxiety between some group members, acknowledged Jennifer Palmer, county director of Housing and Homeless Companies.

“But what we have also observed is, we are not seeing these factors appear to fruition, we are not seeing complications in the neighborhoods where ADUs have long gone in,” Palmer said. “They are seamlessly integrated.”

Accent dwelling models assist keep teachers, nurses and police residing in Napa County. The county requires the emphasis to be on the human aspect, alternatively of concern of the not known, she mentioned.

“And it is a large worry of the unknown,” Wagenknecht mentioned.

The county in excess of eight decades has authorised 90 accent dwelling units and junior accent dwelling models for the unincorporated regions exterior of towns, a county report reported. A junior accessory dwelling unit is more compact than 500 sq. ft and is inside a one-family home.

Though the Board of Supervisors governs the unincorporated county, it also would like to support town dwellers create accessory dwelling models.

“I want this option to be out there to anybody, irrespective of whether you are living in the metropolitan areas or the county. I assume most of (the units) will end up in the city spots,” Board of Supervisors Chairperson Ryan Gregory claimed.

The metropolis of Napa in 2021 authorized 60 applications to construct accessory dwelling units within just its boundaries.

Supervisors talked about several, planned accessory dwelling device courses, from waiving or decreasing making allow service fees to a landlord risk mitigation system to financial loans. County team will return to the Board of Supervisors with particulars in the coming months.

The work consists of operating with the nonprofits Residences for Sonoma and Napa Sonoma ADU Center. Among the products and services offered are an accent dwelling device expense calculator and prefabricated accessory dwelling units.

Supervisors requested how considerably a prefabricated accessory dwelling unit costs.

The cottage from the mudsill up is about $110,000, claimed Robin Stephani of Households for California. Site do the job, permits, utility connections and other expenses expense about $50,000 to $70,000.

Napa County will also grow its proximity workforce housing plan that assists regional workers with the down payment for residences. The method produced 174 financial loans from 2011 to 2021. County officials claimed the method could make 330 financial loans around the coming decade.

Go to www.napasonomaadu.org to find out a lot more about developing accent dwelling models in Napa County. Go to https://little bit.ly/37sFSDH to find out much more about the county’s workforce proximity housing method.