Tiny homes, accessory dwelling units will be allowed
The Parsons Planning Commission on Tuesday agreed to recommend that the Parsons City Commission adopt revised zoning regulations. The revision has taken more than three years and developed from the city’s comprehensive planning process.
The revisions moved some regulations around, amended others, made some of the dense material easier to read by creating graphical depictions of it and created regulations for adding tiny homes and accessory dwelling units in the city.
The latter two changes resulted from a discussion among planners and city commissioners to address a housing issue after a city inspector found a woman living permanently in an RV on her son’s property at 1106 S. 14th. Linda Philbrick was told in July 2023 that living permanently in an RV violated the city’s zoning rules. She brought the issue to the city commission in October 2023.
Daniel Jones, Philbrick’s son, helps her live independently on his property and helps care for her. She has said she is disabled and has health issues, and the RV holds the last of her possessions after her husband died in 2022.
Since those early meetings with the city, Jones made adjustments to the RV to try to comply with city regulations or make the living situation better while the city wrestled with what to do.
Commissioner Leland Crooks advocated for accessory dwelling units, or even tiny homes, as an answer for Philbrick and others who will face similar issues.
On Tuesday, Philbrick thanked planners for updating the zoning rules to allow ADUs and tiny homes.
“I do appreciate you. God bless you all. Thank you for what you did,” she said.
A fundraising project is underway to help Philbrick build a permanent residence.
Crooks thanked planners as well for the updated regulations.
“This is a long, hard haul,” Crooks said of the revision process.
“I think that’s going to be a really big deal for this town,” he said of ADUs.
One accessory dwelling unit is allowed on a lot that already has a single-family dwelling on it. ADUs may be within the main building or constructed as an accessory building. The ADU must remain under the same ownership as that of the single family dwelling. Utility connections can be separate from the main home.
See ZONING, Page 2.
Tiny homes can be built on open lots in specifically zoned areas. They must have 699 square feet of living space or less and meet other regulations. Only one tiny home is allowed per lot and the homes aren’t allowed to be built on lots of less than 2,500 square feet. The tiny homes also must have a conventional foundation and approved sewer, water and electrical connections.
Planner Lowell Wells read through a summary of the changes during a public hearing on the zoning regulations.
The changes added a variance process for structural alterations for nonconforming uses, he said.
Crooks, during his comments, asked planners to consider at some point parking minimums for businesses. He thinks the minimum parking regulations should go away. Because of the regulations, he had to create 25 parking spaces on the lot for his business, Grand Rental Station. He said at most he has three or four cars on the lot at the same time, and he thinks that’s probably true for other retailers. He said the regulation may be a reason that development by commercial contractors is so difficult.
He thinks businesses should determine their own parking needs.
“We shouldn’t be defining those minimums for them,” he said.
He said he would also like to see some changes on the residential side, including requirements for accessory dwelling units and tiny homes. He wants people who live in these structures to be able to park on the street rather than having to spend $8,000 to $10,000 to build a driveway for parking.
“The whole idea behind these is to create incredibly affordable housing,” Crooks said.
Developers have to figure those parking costs into their plans, he said.
Crooks said he hasn’t spoken to other commissioners about his parking concerns. He noted that some larger cities are changing or revoking the requirements and others are considering changes.
Planner Greg Chalker noted that most of those cities are larger and have more transportation options than Parsons. He can Uber to a store and back home in Kansas City, but not in Parsons.
Crooks said he did not disagree with Chalker.
Wells said before the vote to approve the revisions that the process has been long, difficult and interesting.
“We think we have a good product,” he said.
