ADU rules in Bakersfield

Detached ADUs are allowed by right: Table 17.10-1 lists 'Accessory Dwelling Unit (detached, attached, junior)' as P (allowed by right) in all eight residential zones (R-S, R-1, R-2, R-3, R-4, R-5, R-6 and R-H), the Section 17.12.020 table does the same for the MX-1 and MX-2 mixed-use zones, and 17.65.030 makes ADUs a permitted use in any zone that allows residential uses. Since Ord. 5174 (adopted 3-27-2024) repealed the city's own standards, Chapter 17.65 is three short sections that route every complete application through Gov. Code 66310 et seq. (citations updated by Ord. 5207, effective 12-19-2025), so the state text is the operative standard: 66314(d)(3) allows a unit detached from the primary dwelling on the same lot, and 66323(a)(2) requires ministerial approval of one detached new-construction ADU with 4-foot side and rear setbacks on a single-family lot, alongside a conversion ADU and a JADU. The city's definition (17.04.170) classes a converted stand-alone garage as a detached ADU. On multifamily lots 66323(a)(4) allows up to eight detached ADUs beside an existing building (never more than the number of existing units) or two beside a proposed one.

Attached ADUs (new space sharing a wall, floor or roofline with the home) and converted ADUs (entirely within the existing or proposed home or an accessory structure, including attached garages, storage areas, studios and pool houses) are both defined in 17.04.170 and allowed by right under the same Table 17.10-1 'P' entries. Gov. Code 66314(d)(3), applied through 17.65.030, covers units attached to or located within the primary dwelling, and 66323(a)(1) requires ministerial approval of one conversion ADU plus one JADU per single-family lot, with up to 150 sq ft of accessory-structure expansion for ingress and egress. A JADU (17.04.180) must sit entirely within a single-unit dwelling on a lot zoned for single-unit residences, with its own exterior access and an efficiency kitchen, and may share the home's bathroom or have its own. In existing multifamily buildings 66323(a)(3) allows ADUs in non-livable space such as storage rooms, garages and attics: at least one, and up to 25 percent of the existing units.

Bakersfield has no numeric ADU size standard of its own: Ord. 5174 (3-27-2024) replaced former 17.65.020, which capped attached units at 50 percent of the existing dwelling and detached units at 1,200 sq ft, and 17.65.030 now applies Gov. Code 66310 et seq. directly, which yields the same figures. Gov. Code 66314(d)(5) caps a detached ADU at 1,200 sq ft and 66314(d)(4) caps an attached ADU at 50 percent of the existing primary dwelling, but 66321(b)(3) bars any percentage, lot coverage, floor area ratio, open space or front setback limit that would prevent an 800 sq ft unit with 4-foot side and rear setbacks; HCD's March 2026 ADU Handbook (p. 38) gives these as the maximums where no compliant local ordinance sets its own. The state-exempt detached unit under 66323(a)(2) may be limited to 800 sq ft, a conversion under 66323(a)(1) is limited only by the existing space (plus up to 150 sq ft for ingress and egress), and a JADU may not exceed 500 sq ft of interior livable space (66313(d)). Height: the BMC sets no ADU-specific limit; the Table 17.10-2 zone maximums (35 ft in R-S, R-1, R-2 and R-H, 45 ft in R-3) apply to all development and exceed the state floors of 16 ft for a detached ADU (18 ft within one-half mile of a major transit stop or on a lot with a multistory multifamily dwelling, plus 2 ft to match the home's roof pitch) and 25 ft for an attached ADU (66321(b)(4)).

No owner-occupancy requirement applies to ADUs: the BMC contains none (code-wide searches for owner occupancy, owner occupant and owner occupied on 2026-09-29 returned only unrelated chapters), and Gov. Code 66315, applied through 17.65.030, bars any standard beyond 66314, 'including an owner-occupant requirement'. Before Ord. 5174 (3-27-2024), former 17.65.040.A required the ADU request to be made 'by the owner occupant of the existing dwelling unit'; the city repealed that section. JADUs are the exception under state law: since AB 1154 (effective 1-1-2026), Gov. Code 66333(b) requires the owner to live in the home or the JADU only when the JADU shares sanitation facilities with the main home (not when it has its own bathroom, or when the owner is a government agency, land trust or housing organization), and 66333(c) requires a recorded deed restriction barring separate sale and fixing the JADU's size and attributes. The city's ADU page still says the waiver covers only ADUs 'built between 2020 and 2025' and that owner occupancy 'still applies to JADUs'; both statements are superseded.

Bakersfield requires no off-street parking for an ADU: the 17.58.110 parking table lists 'Accessory dwelling unit (per Chapter 17.65)' with 'No minimum required', and 17.58.015.A.1 (restated in 17.10.030.C) waives minimum parking for all single-family residential development, so the main home need not keep its spaces either. Both rules came from Ord. 5175 (adopted 4-10-2024, effective 5-10-2024); the prior table required one space per ADU unless it was a garage conversion or within one-half mile of public transit. State law sets only a ceiling: 66314(b)(2) lets a local agency eliminate ADU parking, 66314(d)(10) caps any requirement at one space per unit or bedroom, 66314(d)(11) bars replacing garage, carport or uncovered spaces lost to an ADU, and 66322(a) bars parking standards near transit and in the other listed cases. The city's ADU page and its February 2024 Toolkit still say one space is required unless an exemption applies; that text predates Ord. 5175 and is superseded.

ADUs and JADUs are ministerial, by-right approvals with no hearing: Table 17.10-1 marks them 'P = Allowed by Right' in every residential zone, and 17.65.030 requires each complete application to be 'processed and approved in compliance with California Government Code Section 66310 et seq.', which under 66317(a) means approval without discretionary review or a hearing, a completeness determination within 15 business days, and a decision within 60 days of a complete application, after which it is deemed approved (66335 mirrors this for JADUs). In practice the Planning Division takes an ADU application with a site plan (fee $554 on the schedule effective 7-1-2026, listed under Site Plan Review), and the Building Division then issues the building permit through the Clariti portal; the city page says Planning review typically takes about 30 working days. The pre-2024 chapter required full site plan review under Chapter 17.08 and an architectural-compatibility finding; Ord. 5174 repealed both, though the current Planning Application Packet still asks ADU applicants for architectural-compatibility elevations or photographs.

An ADU may be rented separately from the main home but not sold or conveyed separately (Gov. Code 66314(d)(1)), apart from the 66341 qualified-nonprofit path; Bakersfield has adopted no 66342 condominium ordinance (none appears in the code current through Ord. 5221 or in the 2025-2026 council record). Chapter 17.74 (Ord. 5218, adopted 6-10-2026, effective 7-10-2026) created a permit program for short-term rentals, defined as stays of one to fewer than thirty consecutive nights, but lists ADUs and JADUs among 'prohibited buildings' (17.74.020.F), makes them ineligible for an STR permit (17.74.030.B.1), and states that they 'are prohibited from use as an STR' (17.74.050.B); Gov. Code 66315 allows a local agency to require rental terms of 30 days or longer. State law separately requires rentals of 66323 state-exempt units and of JADUs to run longer than 30 days (66323(e), 66333(g)), so those units need a 31-day minimum while other ADUs may rent for 30 nights or more.