2.07.2005

Santa Cruz's "accessory" housing

Not really an accessory, but a necessity. What struck me about Santa Cruz's accessory dwelling units (ACU) ordinance was how long ago they were thinking about curbing sprawl in their city. In the 1980s they created a greenbelt around the city, with protected land. Now they're looking to build housing on existing lots (with livable units on them already) instead of developing greenfields and changing the greenbelt policy.

The only thing I wish this article did more was at least give a suggestion of what is so bad about ACUs. I can guess, but sometimes these things are unpredictably complicated.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Check out this article about a design competition in San Deigo for accessory dwelling unit or "granny flat."

http://tinyurl.com/6gdzo

I live in Sacramento and am a member of an urban design association and we are thinking about sponsoring a similar event because our code is not so friendly to the ACU.

amanda
http://www.myurbanvista.com

Shin-pei said...

What a great idea! Core77.com and Metropolis is always sponsoring competitions. Maybe it would be worth approaching them to publicize it.

Thanks for your comment!