City May Loosen Parking, Other Rules For Granny Flats

California’s housing crunch has triggered some changes in state laws … and the impacts may be coming soon to a neighborhood near you.

Your neighbor may soon be adding a rental apartment … on their lot … and it will not be a bootleg unit like the old days.

Second units are legal on nearly every single family residentia lot in Malibu … and the new state law requires cities to make changes in their zoning codes to accommodate them.

Malibu is changing its Local Coastal Program and the municipal code to conform.

The first draft of the new regulations goes before the Planning Commission tonight.

It allows auxiliary dwelling units … also known as guest houses or granny flats … at up to 900 square feet.

It’s fairly liberal … new construction can bring the second unit to within 5 feet of property lines … or a second story on a garage of less than 18 feet high.

No additional garage is required … in fact … no additional parking space is required if there’s a bus stop within a half mile.

And if Uber or Lyft serves the neighborhood .. it’s possible that no additional parking spaces would be required at all.

A garage can be converted to a second unit … with no replacement garage required for the existing house’s enclosed parking spaces.

And although a second unit would be legal to rent out … under current city policy it could not have a separate street address … which means no separate water or electric meters could be installed for the rental.

All of this is according to the staff proposal …. which goes before the Planning Commission tonight at city hall.