Accessory dwelling approval hampered by home-share hang-ups

-- To address the need for new accessory dwelling unit (ADU) zoning, City of OKC leaders are finding they need to address home-share proliferation anxiety first.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Months after pushing to allow Oklahoma City residents to build and maintain “granny flat” style accessory dwelling units on their property, city planners are still waiting for approval from the Planning Commission and the various city residents who have raised concerns.

Chief among their worries is the issue of home-shares arranged through online booking sites such as Airbnb and Vrbo.

In May, the Oklahoma City Planning Commission heard from city staff that one of the best ways to address the dire housing need in the city’s urban core could be to lift the decades-old ban on accessory dwelling units, or ADUs.

ADUs are defined as any secondary living unit that includes cooking and sanitation accommodations on the same plot of land as a residential house.

OKC has restricted ADUs for decades, only approving them through individual special zoning exemptions. Still, recent studies have shown that lifting that ban could help significantly ease the city’s current housing shortage.

Tulsa likewise lifted its ban on ADUs just last year.

However, since taking up consideration of allowing ADUs throughout Oklahoma City neighborhoods, residents have turned out to voice numerous concerns about the units ultimately being used for short-term home-share rentals like Airbnb, risking filling the streets with “party houses” and providing little benefit to the housing supply.

All of this has forced city planners and officials back to the drawing board to draft and submit a new city ordinance to better regulate home-shares in OKC.

“We still think that allowing accessory dwellings is important and is a low-impact solution that supports the city’s comprehensive plan,” Assistant Planning Director Lisa Chronister told OKC Free Press. “I certainly hope the new home-share changes will ease people’s concerns.”

Home-share worries

At the June 13th Planning Commission meeting, commissioners heard from a long line of commenters on concerns they had regarding the allowance of ADUs and the potential for an explosion of loosely regulated home-shares and Airbnbs.

Having heard those same concerns from focus groups, city planners submitted a potential new home-share ordinance for the city that would place new restrictions and regulations on home-share operations.

Among other new regulations, home-shares would need to address parking concerns, impose a two-night minimum stay for guests, impose a maximum limit on the number of guests, and most importantly, limit the number of home-shares on any block to just 10% of the structures, including ADUs.

These proposed new regulations quickly created new tensions in the conversation about allowing ADUs.

Georgie Rasco, former Director of the Neighborhood Alliance of Central Oklahoma, spoke at the June 13th meeting as an individual citizen rather than representing any organization.

Camal Pennington (R), Chair of the City of OKC Planning Commission/Ward 7 Commissioner, and Geoff Butler, Director of Planning listen to comments from another commissioner at a meeting in April 2024. (B.DICKERSON/Okla City Free Press)

“I do know that we have a need for affordable rentals at that level,” she said, “but my fear is if you were to pass this [ADU] ordinance first, and people were to start building their ADU thinking they’re going to use it for Airbnb, and then suddenly you pass the Airbnb ordinance, if they don’t get to be part of that first 10%, then now they’re stuck, and they’re going to be very mad at the city.”

The Commission heard numerous concerns to that same effect, with residents wanting to see progress on new home-share regulations first before moving forward with new ADUs allowances.

The decision was made to table the ADU approval at that meeting to allow time for Planning Commission members to hear more from residents.

“This is messy,” said Planning Commission Chair Camal Pennington from the dais. “We’ve never dealt with an issue like this before. I’ve been on the Commission for six years, and I’ve never seen us have an issue this complex, and we just had the jail and a giant skyscraper.”

Addressing concerns

Chronister officially presented the new home-share ordinance to the Planning Commission on Thursday in the hope that regulations can be approved and make way for ADUs to help alleviate some of the city’s housing needs, something she said is a top priority for the Planning Department.

“We had discussed and speculated over which of these should go before the Planning Commission first, between home-shares and ADUs, because there’s so many variables,” she told Free Press. “We decided to go with accessory dwellings first, but it’s since been tabled and will now ultimately go after the home-share ordinance.”

Lisa Chronister
Lisa Chronister, City of Oklahoma City (official, provided)

In the weeks since that June 13th meeting, Chronister has overseen several focus groups to get resident input on both issues.

“We hear both sides in equal measure, concerns from people that are worried and pleas from advocates in favor,” she said. “But we really think ADUs could help. The city’s comprehensive plan says plainly that we should adopt regulations to allow ADUs to help family members, to help people find housing, and to help people with supplemental income.”

So if the most pressing obstacle to implementing an ADU allowance is concerns over home-shares, why not just disallow them completely for ADUs?

“That is something we’ve heard increasingly in focus groups over the last several weeks,” Chronister admitted.

But the reality of a restriction like that could stand to be more complicated.

“There’s two sides to that story,” said Chronister. “One is how would you enforce that? Would enforcement be able to tell if something is a home-share versus a rental? Maybe, maybe not. And if someone uses an ADU as a home-share and that supplemental income helps them to afford and stay in their home, isn’t that a positive also?”

Continuing issue

At Thursday’s Planning Commission meeting, the decision was made to move the official hearing and vote on the newly presented home-share ordinance to September 12th.

Chronister said there’s unlikely to be any movement on new ADU allowances until after that vote on a new home-share ordinance.

Pennington encouraged city residents to make clear their own voices and opinions on these issues at the September 12th meeting and before.

“We do want the community to be aware,” he said at the meeting, “and we do want their feedback.”


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Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.