ADU rules in Ojai

A new detached ADU is a listed ADU type in every R zone and in the OS, A, VMU, C-1 and B-P zones, approved ministerially by the Community Development Director when it meets Table A (§ 10-2.1709(c)-(d)); in C-1 and B-P only where the existing single-family home is legal. Table A allows one ADU plus one JADU per single-family lot, but Gov. Code 66323(a) requires approval of a converted ADU, a new detached ADU of up to 800 sq ft with 4 ft side and rear setbacks and a JADU together, and from 1-1-2027 (AB 956) two detached new-construction ADUs. On multifamily lots § 10-2.1709(l)(2)(B) allows two detached ADUs of up to 800 sq ft and 16 ft, against up to eight under 66323(a)(4) on a lot with an existing multifamily building. The zone use tables still show 'second residential units' as barred in R-S, OS, C-1 and B-P and as a CUP use in A, but § 10-2.1709(c) applies 'notwithstanding any provision of these Zoning Regulations to the contrary'.

Table A lists five attached forms in the same zones: an attached addition to the legal primary home, a conversion of interior space, a conversion of an existing legal accessory building, a new unit in a new second story over the home (always subject to a Planning Commission design review permit) and a 'home split' dividing a home of at least 2,000 sq ft into two units of at least 650 sq ft each with no more than 10 percent expansion. A JADU of up to 500 sq ft is allowed in addition to an ADU, built within the single-family structure with up to a 150 sq ft addition (§ 10-2.1709(k)). Multifamily owners may convert non-livable space into ADUs up to 25 percent of the existing units, each capped locally at 800 sq ft (§ 10-2.1709(l)(2)(A)), although 66323(a)(3) attaches no size condition to such conversions and 66323(b) bars standards it does not authorize.

Every Table A type shares one cap, '1,200 sq. ft. or 85% of the existing habitable area of the legal primary unit, whichever is smaller', so the percentage only bites for homes under about 1,410 sq ft. Note (3) guarantees 850 sq ft for a one-bedroom and 1,000 sq ft for a two-or-more-bedroom unit, and note (1)(G) guarantees an 800 sq ft, 16 ft unit with 4 ft side and rear setbacks against any size, percentage, coverage, floor-area-ratio, open-space or lot-size limit; JADUs are capped at 500 sq ft and multifamily-lot ADUs (conversions and up to two detached units) at 800 sq ft. Height follows the zone (25 ft and two stories in the residential zones, Table 2-3), but two-story units, units over 24 ft and second-story units need a Planning Commission design review permit. The local 'floor area' counts interior non-habitable space such as attics and basements, whereas the state 850, 1,000 and 800 sq ft floors are measured in interior livable space (66321(b)(2)-(3)). HCD's 10-8-2025 letter warns that the 2023-vintage ordinance may be void under 66316, in which case the state defaults (1,200 sq ft detached, 50 percent of the home for attached units, 66314(d)(4)-(5)) would govern until a compliant rewrite is adopted.

Nothing in § 10-2.1709 requires the owner to live on a lot with an ADU (the annual owner-occupancy declarations of the 2017 Ord. 875 are gone from the current text), and Gov. Code 66315 bars any owner-occupant requirement for ADUs. For JADUs the local text still says 'The owner must reside in the single-family residence', with only the legacy 65852.22(a)(2) exceptions; since 1-1-2026 Gov. Code 66333(b) (AB 1154, SB 543) allows owner occupancy to be required only where the JADU shares sanitation facilities with the main home, so a JADU with its own bathroom carries no residency rule. Units legalized through the compliance program 'need not be owner-occupied' (Resolution No. 25-33 guidelines).

Table A requires 'One additional uncovered on-site paved parking space which may be tandem on an existing driveway' only for new detached ADUs and home splits that are not within half a mile of a transit stop, and 'None' for attached additions, conversions, second-story units, any unit within half a mile of a transit stop or in a historic district, and JADUs; new driveways serving ADU parking must be pervious and of minimum width. State law narrows the remaining rule: a studio owes no space (66314(d)(10)(A), one space per unit or per bedroom, whichever is less), a home split is part of the existing primary residence (66322(a)(3)), an ADU applied for with a new home is exempt (66322(a)(6)), and a detached unit within the 66323(a)(2) limits (800 sq ft, 4 ft setbacks) cannot be given a parking standard (66323(b)). Garage or carport conversions need no replacement parking (66314(d)(11)), although § 10-2.1404(c) still conditions garage conversions on Table A and the parking table (§ 10-2.1405, Table 3-5) still prints a superseded '1 covered space' row for second residential units.

An ADU that meets Table A 'shall be approved ministerially by the Community Development Director, without discretionary review and a hearing' (§ 10-2.1709(c)) through a zoning clearance with the building permit: the city's ADU packet uses the Zoning Clearance for a Building Permit form, and a detached 740 sq ft ADU went through Zone Clearance ZCL 26-028 in September 2026. Table A, however, requires a Design Review Permit 'only for two-story units, units taller than 24 ft, or units on the second story' (and for home splits that expand the home more than 10 percent), and design review permits are Planning Commission decisions on subjective compatibility findings at a public hearing (§§ 10-2.2003(a), (c), 10-2.2009). Development on slopes of 15 percent or more also needs a design review permit unless exempt (§ 10-2.1103), and work on designated landmarks or in historic districts needs a Chapter 4-8 work permit (major work permits from the Historic Preservation Commission). These discretionary steps conflict with Gov. Code 66316 and 66317(a)(1), and for attached units up to 25 ft and two stories with 66321(b)(4)(D); no two-story ADU design review appeared on 2025-2026 Planning Commission agendas, so how the city applies them today is undocumented.

Table A answers 'No' to short-term rental for every ADU type and § 10-2.1709(h) says 'No accessory dwelling unit shall be utilized as a short-term rental facility', defining a short-term rental as one 'for less than 30 days, excepting rentals with a duration of the entire month of February'. Chapter 4-24 and § 10-2.1715 (Ords. 943, 950, 952) separately prohibit any rental of property 'including any accessory dwelling unit' for less than 30 days except permitted hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts and timeshares, ban advertising, fine violators $1,500, $3,000 and then $5,000 per violation with disgorgement of rents, and require sellers to disclose the ban. Gov. Code 66323(e) and 66333(g) require terms longer than 30 days for state-exempt units and JADUs, so a 30-day lease or a February-only rental is lawful only for an ordinary ADU. ADUs may not be sold apart from the main home (§ 10-2.1709(c)(1); no 66342 condominium opt-in). Rented ADUs fall under the Title 11 just-cause eviction and relocation rules unless the owner lives on the property and rents no more than two units or bedrooms (§ 11-2.08(e)), while the 4 percent annual rent cap does not apply to units whose certificate of occupancy was issued after 2-1-1995 (§ 11-1.08(b)), which covers new ADUs.