Co-living (TC-7-22)
Co-living (TC-7-22)
Co-living (TC-7-22): This text change amends the Unified Development Ordinance to rename the existing Boardinghouse use to ‘Co-living’ and update some of the existing standards associated with this use. Please see the dedicated TC-7-22 webpage for more information. Read the draft ordinance.
Background information:
In recent years, housing affordability has become a heightened concern for many as housing costs continue to outpace income growth in many areas of the country. Historically, shared living arrangements such as Boardinghouses, Single Room Occupancies, and other forms of communal living have provided the ability for residents to share living spaces and amenities amongst each other while typically enjoying lower individual costs. Just like these forms of shared living, Co-living seeks to address the financial burden of housing by allowing 4 or more unrelated persons the ability to cohabitate together and rent private rooms within a building while sharing amenity spaces such as living areas, dining areas, kitchens, bathrooms, and recreation facilities.
The closest analogous use is ‘Boardinghouse’, which is currently allowed as a Special Use within the Residential-10 (R-10) zoning district and a Limited Use within the Residential Mixed Use (RX-), Office Mixed Use (OX-), Neighborhood Mixed Use (NX-), Commercial Mixed Use (CX-), and Downtown Mixed Use (DX-) zoning districts. The Boardinghouse use standards limits the number of total occupants at a given facility, the building type, and imposes a separation requirement from other Boardinghouse facilities in addition to a few other standards that regulate this use.
Proposed Text Change:
This text change proposes to rename the existing Boardinghouse use to ‘Co-living’ and update some of the existing use standards for Mixed-Use districts, however there will be no change to the specific standards for Residential districts.
Under this proposal, a Co-living use located within a residential zoning district will be held to the same standards as what currently applies for Boardinghouses (no change):
- The facility was constructed originally as a detached house for single-unit living.
- The maximum number of individuals occupying the building is limited to 6.
- There can be no exterior advertising except 1 unlit announcement sign not to exceed 2 square feet in area.
- No co-living use can be located within 1,200 feet of another co-living use (determined by a straight line from property line to property line).
This text change will revise how the use is regulated within Mixed Use districts. In addition to expanding where the ‘Co-living’ use can operate by allowing the use within the IX- zoning district, the text change also proposes to allow co-living uses in Mixed Use districts to be located within an apartment or mixed-use building type. Co-living uses located within apartments or mixed-use buildings must be located in the following districts RX-, OX-, NX-, CX-, DX-, IX-AND must provide a minimum of 250 square feet of gross floor area per one -person sleeping unit and 500 square feet of gross floor area per two-person sleeping unit.
Public Meeting Schedule:
This text change is scheduled for a Planning Commission Text Change Committee meeting in August or September. There will be two ‘Ask-A-Planner’ sessions where members of the public can ask staff questions and discuss this text change. The first session will be an in-person meeting at John Chavis memorial park on Monday, Aug. 5 at 6 p.m. and a second, virtual meeting will be be held Thursday, Aug. 8 at 6 p.m. We will be collecting comments here through August 9. Comments after this date should be submitted directly to Keegan McDonald.