The Brown County Area Plan Commission will host a public hearing this week about an ordinance that would allow people to build smaller homes in certain zoning districts.
The new proposed minimums are 240 square feet on land zoned FR (forest reserve) and 500 square feet on land zoned secondary residential (R2) or lake residence (LR).
Currently, the minimum footprint for a one-story home is 600 square feet if it’s along a county road and on a property zoned R2, LR, FR or GB (general business). If the property is along a state highway, the smallest a home’s footprint can be is 900 square feet if it’s a one-story or 800 square feet for a two-story.
In Nashville town limits, minimum footprints range from 600 to 800 square feet depending on the zoning district and whether the house is one or two stories.
APC members have been talking since June about shrinking the minimums in order to allow for “tiny” and “small” house living in Brown County. “Tiny” houses are generally defined as between 70 and 400 square feet, with “small” houses being between 400 and 1,000 square feet.
[embeddoc url=”http://www.bcdemocrat.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/03/smaller-home-ordinance-draft.pdf” download=”all”]
Several people have spoken in favor of reducing the minimums, including people who are building tiny houses.
At the APC’s February meeting, Brown County Redevelopment Commission member Jim Schultz talked about smaller houses — and smaller home lots — being a means to attracting more residents. Having more residents would mean more people to help pay taxes, spreading out the burden on everyone.
“I’ve been an advocate for smaller lot sizes for a very long time. I think it’s essential to population increase, which has to happen in order for us to be able to have enough tax revenue to support the services we’ve grown to expect,” he said.
He also mentioned the results of a recent survey conducted by Brown County Schools’ Education and Workforce Advisory Team, which showed lack of affordable housing as one of the top concerns.
“It’s been coming up time and time again as a big thing we have to correct if we’re going to get to the point where we have enough kids in our schools,” he said.
At the same time, the APC has been talking about shrinking the minimum lot sizes in its ordinances.
Right now, the minimum lot size is 5 acres on land that hasn’t been subdivided. The APC approves several minor and major subdivisions each year. Any home along a county road or state highway has to be built on at least 2 acres. A home built on land zoned general business or lake residence can be on as little a half-acre.
More than one speaker pointed out that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t really fit for Brown County land, because not all land is buildable and can support a septic system. One of those speakers was Linda Bauer, a real estate agent, appraiser and a member of the Brown County Board of Health, which has been working on a revision to the county’s septic ordinance for more than year.
One possible way to increase affordable housing is by creating small housing communities, with a community sewer system, but that’s tough to do in a place with Brown County’s terrain, she said.
“I would love to find a property, a larger tract of land, closer to Nashville where it could be put on sewer, or a cluster septic. … That, to me means more than just signing an ordinance that says we’re going to reduce the lot size for everybody. … You almost need to go out and visit the site to understand the terrain of the land before it’s passed,” she said.
APC President and Brown County Surveyor Dave Harden said that in talking about shrinking lot minimums, he’s primarily concerned about the availability of building sites, considering the difficult terrain and a high percentage of land being owned by the state and federal governments.
Schultz supported the “cluster home” concept as well. That would require collaboration with the health board, he said.
It also would require reworking the zoning ordinance, which doesn’t allow more than one dwelling on a parcel unless it’s a duplex.
Bauer encouraged more conversation on the “accessory dwellings” concept, especially as it relates to tiny homes.
Some communities, including Bloomington, allow tiny homes as “accessory dwellings” in a person’s yard. Brown County doesn’t.
However, Bauer pointed to loopholes in current Brown County ordinances which she said allow a person to put an “accessory building of a certain size” on a lot without special permission. She said she knows of people using those as tiny homes already. She said two had been listed for sale.
“There needs to be some conversation about the accessory buildings of that size, because they’re going out there and there’s no septics, just living off the grid,” she said. “… Without the permit, nobody knows it until they get caught.”
Planning Director Chris Ritzmann said any building larger than 10 by 12 feet already has to have a permit.
APC members also talked about reducing the minimum road frontage required when land is subdivided. Currently it’s 100 feet for a 5-acre parcel and 150 feet for a 2-acre parcel, Harden said. The purpose of that is to have a lower home density and better sight distance for driveways, he said.
He asked APC members to write down their feelings on all these discussion topics to share at the March meeting, which will double as the public hearing on the smaller home ordinance.
It will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 27 at the County Office Building.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”If you go” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
What: Public hearing on ordinance to shrink the minimum size of homes in certain zoning districts
When: 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 27
Where: County Office Building, East Gould Street and Locust Lane
