ADU rules in Glendale

Glendale permits a detached ADU by right (a 'P' use) in every residential zone, from the hillside ROS and R1R zones through R1 and the R-3050 to R-1250 multifamily zones, and in the commercial, mixed-use, TOD, MS and Downtown Specific Plan districts listed in their own use tables wherever a dwelling exists or is proposed (the DSP excludes only its Civic Centers district). A new detached unit needs 4-foot interior setbacks, may not sit between the house and the street (except on through lots or where that would block the state-exempt unit), and is limited to 16 feet (18 feet within half a mile of a major transit stop or high-quality transit corridor, plus 2 feet to match the house's roof pitch) and two stories. The codified text still bars new ADUs above a detached garage or carport ((E)(6), (F)(6)) and lets a one-dwelling lot have an ADU or an accessory living quarters but not both ((D)(9)); HCD has found both unlawful since 2023, and under its 10-3-2025 MOU with HCD the city has agreed not to enforce them and to allow garage-top ADUs and detached ADUs beside a guest house until an amending ordinance takes effect. Multifamily lots may add up to eight detached ADUs (never more than the existing unit count), or two with a proposed multifamily building.

Attached ADUs (new additions), conversions of space inside the house or an existing accessory building (with up to 150 sq ft of expansion to accommodate access), and junior ADUs of up to 500 sq ft inside a single-family home, including an attached garage, are all allowed by right. New attached units are limited to 50 percent of the primary dwelling's floor area and never more than the 850 or 1,000 sq ft cap ((D)(7)); the city's ADU page applies the 50 percent limit only above 800 sq ft, which is what Gov. Code 66321(b)(3) requires. Attached units may reach 25 feet or the zone height, whichever is lower, and two stories. JADUs are allowed only on lots with one dwelling (in any zone, including the multifamily zones, a choice the city defended in Resolution No. 24-189) and are barred on lots with existing multiple dwellings, where conversions of non-livable space such as storage rooms, garages and basements yield at least one ADU and up to 25 percent of the existing unit count.

Section 30.34.080(D)(6) caps every new-construction ADU, attached or detached, at 850 sq ft, or 1,000 sq ft when it has more than one bedroom (the city page: 'ADUs over 850 SF require a second bedroom'), and (D)(7) also limits new attached units to 50 percent of the primary dwelling's floor area. Units over 800 sq ft must meet the zone's floor area ratio, lot coverage, landscaping and open space standards, though the first 800 sq ft of any ADU is excluded from those calculations ((D)(3)); the 800 sq ft detached unit and conversions of existing space ((E)(4)) sit outside the new-construction caps, the design standards and the parking rule. Glendale's caps equal the state floors in Gov. Code 66321(b)(2), which SB 543 (effective 1-1-2026) now measures as interior livable space, while the GMC does not say how ADU size is measured and defines gross floor area from the exterior faces of walls (§ 30.70.070); where the two diverge, the state interior-space floor governs (Gov. Code 66325). HCD's standing position is that the whole ordinance is void under Gov. Code 66316, which would put the state's 1,200 sq ft detached figure in 66314(d)(5) in play, but that dispute is held in abeyance by the 10-3-2025 MOU and the city applies the 850/1,000 sq ft caps.

Glendale imposes no owner-occupancy requirement on ADUs, consistent with Gov. Code 66315, which bars owner-occupant conditions on ADUs; the ADU covenant that Ord. 5997 required was dropped by Ord. 6034 after HCD's findings. For junior ADUs, the covenant recorded before final approval ((I)(1)) still says the owner must live in the house or the JADU 'at all times', with no exception. Since 1-1-2026 Gov. Code 66333(b) (AB 1154) requires owner occupancy only when the JADU shares sanitation facilities with the house, and the JADU article supersedes conflicting local text (Gov. Code 66339.5), so under state law a JADU with its own bathroom carries no owner-occupancy duty; HCD has issued no findings on this clause and the city has not amended it.

Section 30.34.080(H)(1)(a) caps ADU parking at one off-street space per unit or per bedroom, whichever is less (the § 30.32.050 table lists 'Accessory dwelling units: 1 space'), and the space may be uncovered, tandem, on a mechanical lift, or in a setback on an existing driveway. No space is required within one-half mile walking distance of a public transit stop (any bus stop or train station on a fixed route), for listed historic properties and contributors in an adopted historic district, for units inside the existing house or accessory living quarters, where on-street permits are required but not offered, within one block of a car-share lot, for JADUs, for state-exempt (E)(4) and (F)(2) units, or when the ADU is applied for together with a new home ((H)(4)). Garage, carport or uncovered spaces removed to build or convert an ADU need not be replaced ((H)(5)), and the ADU must share the existing driveway unless the lot has an alley ((H)(2)). Gov. Code 66322 applies regardless of local text; where Glendale's list is narrower (it names the existing primary residence or accessory living quarters, while 66322(a)(3) covers a unit that is part of a proposed or existing primary residence or any accessory structure), the state exemption governs.

ADUs and JADUs are a permitted ('P') use in every zone that allows housing (Table 30.11-A and the commercial, mixed-use, TOD, MS and DSP use tables), and § 30.34.080(A) says the section provides for them 'in a manner that is ministerial and nondiscretionary consistent with state law'. Approval runs through a building permit (the city posts ADU permit applications for single-family, multifamily and commercial or mixed-use lots) with zoning review in plan check, ADUs are exempt from design review (§ 30.47.020(G)(10)), and the city offers pre-approved standard plans (one 740 sq ft one-bedroom plan listed). Street-facing or two-story new ADUs must meet the objective design standards in (G) (matching roof form and cladding, no rooftop decks, parapets of 18 inches or less, 60-inch sill heights on second-floor windows facing neighbors), which do not apply to state-exempt units or to designated or potential historic resources; historic properties instead face the objective no-street-visibility rule in (E)(3) and (F)(4). A JADU needs a covenant recorded before final approval ((I)(1)), and no hearing applies to any ADU or JADU.

Section 30.34.080(D)(11) requires any rental of an ADU to be for a term longer than 30 days, which Gov. Code 66315 permits and 66323(e) mandates for state-exempt units (66333(g) now requires the same of JADU rentals). Glendale's short-term rental law, Chapter 5.56 (Ord. 5972, 9-14-2021, successor to the 2019 program under which vacation rentals had to end by 5-31-2020 per § 30.60.030(P)), bans vacation rentals in all zones and licenses only home-sharing with a resident host on site, and § 5.56.020(A) adds that home-sharing 'is not allowed on any property with an accessory dwelling unit (in either the primary residential dwelling or the accessory dwelling unit)'. An ADU cannot be sold separately except through the Gov. Code 66341 qualified-nonprofit path ((D)(12)); the council voted 3-2 on 11-4-2025 to initiate an AB 1033 (Gov. Code 66342) ADU-condominium opt-in, but no ordinance had reached the Planning Commission or council by 9-29-2026. Glendale's tenant rules in Chapter 9.30 (just-cause eviction, one-year lease offers, and relocation pay when rent rises more than 7 percent in 12 months) exclude parcels with two or fewer dwelling units and exempt units with certificates of occupancy issued after 2-1-1995 from the rent-increase relocation rule, so a new ADU behind a single-family home falls outside the local program, while an ADU added to a lot with three or more units falls under its just-cause and lease-offer rules.