Annotated California ADU Law Library

For purposes of this chapter:

(a) “Accessory dwelling unit” means an attached or a detached residential dwelling unit that provides complete independent living facilities for one or more persons and is located on a lot with a proposed or existing primary residence. It shall include permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking, and sanitation on the same parcel as the single-family or multifamily dwelling is or will be situated. An accessory dwelling unit also includes the following:

(1) An efficiency unit.

(2) A manufactured home, as defined in Section 18007 of the Health and Safety Code.

(b) “Accessory structure” means a structure that is accessory and incidental to a dwelling located on the same lot.

(c) “Efficiency unit” has the same meaning as defined in Section 17958.1 of the Health and Safety Code.

(d) “Junior accessory dwelling unit” means a unit that is no more than 500 square feet of interior livable space in size and contained entirely within a single-family residence. A junior accessory dwelling unit may include separate sanitation facilities, or may share sanitation facilities with the existing structure.

(e) “Livable space” means a space in a dwelling intended for human habitation, including living, sleeping, eating, cooking, or sanitation.

(f) “Living area” means the interior habitable area of a dwelling unit, including basements and attics, but does not include a garage or any accessory structure.

(g) “Local agency” means a city, county, or city and county, whether general law or chartered.

(h) “Nonconforming zoning condition” means a physical improvement on a property that does not conform to current zoning standards.

(i) “Objective standards” means standards that involve no personal or subjective judgment by a public official and are uniformly verifiable by reference to an external and uniform benchmark or criterion available and knowable by both the development applicant or proponent and the public official prior to submittal.

(j) “Passageway” means a pathway that is unobstructed clear to the sky and extends from a street to one entrance of the accessory dwelling unit.

(k) “Permitting agency” means any entity that is involved in the review of a permit for an accessory dwelling unit or junior accessory dwelling unit and for which there is no substitute, including, but not limited to, applicable planning departments, building departments, utilities, and special districts.

(l) “Proposed dwelling” means a dwelling that is the subject of a permit application and that meets the requirements for permitting.

(m) “Public transit” means a location, including, but not limited to, a bus stop or train station, where the public may access buses, trains, subways, and other forms of transportation that charge set fares, run on fixed routes, and are available to the public.

(n) “Tandem parking” means that two or more automobiles are parked on a driveway or in any other location on a lot, lined up behind one another.