ADU rules in Colorado Springs

A detached ADU (a separate building in the yard, including a converted detached garage) is allowed as an accessory use on any lot developed with a single-family detached dwelling, in every zone district, overlay district or other location where single-family detached dwellings are allowed. Table 7.3.2-A marks 'Dwelling, Accessory, (All)' as an accessory use in the A, R-E, R-1 9, R-1 6, R-2, R-4, R-5 and R-Flex Low, Medium and High districts, in OR, in every MX district, in FBZ and LI, and in all three North Nevada Avenue overlay subareas. Only one ADU is allowed per lot. The one significant exclusion is the Wildland Urban Interface Overlay (WUI-O), where detached and attached ADUs may not be built and only an integrated ADU inside the house is allowed. Tiny houses, manufactured homes and other prefabricated homes may serve as a detached ADU if placed on a permanent foundation and connected to metered utilities; mobile homes and recreational vehicles may not.

The UDC recognizes three ADU types and allows all of them: attached (physically connected to the house by a wall or other permanent connection), integrated (inside the principal dwelling, for example a basement or upper-floor conversion) and detached. The use table entry is 'Dwelling, Accessory, (All)', so no type is singled out for a different approval path. Attached and integrated ADUs follow the maximum building height for the principal building in the zone district rather than the 16 foot detached cap, and unlike detached units they may be located in a front yard. Exterior access to an integrated or attached ADU may not be gained from the front of the house, and external stairs to a second-story ADU are prohibited unless the ADU's entrance is itself on the second story. Integrated ADUs are the only kind permitted inside the Wildland Urban Interface Overlay.

UDC 7.3.304 E.2.a caps ADU floor area at the lesser of 50 percent of the principal structure's floor area or 1,250 square feet, with a floor for small houses: if the principal structure is under 1,500 square feet the ADU may be up to 750 square feet. ADU floor area does not count toward the code's separate limit that all accessory structures together may not exceed the gross floor area of the primary structure. Height is the other binding dimension: a detached ADU, or any accessory structure containing one, may not exceed 16 feet regardless of roof type or pitch, except that a garage being converted to a detached ADU may reach 25 feet; attached and integrated ADUs use the zone district's maximum height for the principal building. Setbacks track the house: front and side setbacks for the ADU may not be greater than those for the primary dwelling, and the rear setback may not exceed the lesser of the district's accessory building setback or five feet.

There is no ongoing owner-occupancy mandate, but the owner must prove they live on the property at the time of application. UDC 7.3.304 E requires the property owner to demonstrate that the owner resides on the property when submitting an application to construct or convert an ADU, and the city implements that through a notarized Owner Residency Determination Affidavit filed with the building permit. The requirement expressly does not apply to an ADU built simultaneously with a primary dwelling. Nothing in the code requires the owner to keep living there afterward, and nothing requires either unit to be owner-occupied on an ongoing basis. This is the narrow exception Colorado's HB24-1152 leaves open: the state law bars a subject jurisdiction from requiring an ADU or any other dwelling on the lot to be owner-occupied, except that it may require the owner to demonstrate residence on the parcel when an application to construct or convert an ADU is submitted (and not for an ADU built at the same time as a new primary dwelling). Colorado Springs is on the Department of Local Affairs list of HB24-1152 subject jurisdictions.

UDC 7.3.304 E.1.b requires one off-street parking space in addition to the minimum parking required for the principal structure, and the city's ADU page states the same. Table 7.4.10-A sets single-family detached parking at 2 spaces per dwelling unit 'not including Accessory Dwelling Units' and for 'Dwelling, Accessory' simply cross-references the standards in 7.3.304 E, so the ADU space is genuinely additive. The code offers no ADU-specific reduction, and the general parking adjustments in 7.4.1005 may not be applied to single-family or two-family dwellings. Practically, the requirement is usually met by an existing driveway or garage: HB24-1152 bars a subject jurisdiction from requiring the construction of a new off-street space for an ADU but expressly allows it to require designation of an existing driveway, garage or tandem space, and to require one new space only on a parcel that has no existing off-street space, was in a zone requiring parking for the primary dwelling as of January 1, 2024, and sits on a block where on-street parking is prohibited.

By right, through administrative review only. UDC 7.3.304 E.1.i states that ADUs are reviewed through an administrative approval process in accord with C.R.S. 29-35-101 et seq.: the applicant submits a site plan and applies for a building permit, which the Manager approves, approves with conditions or denies based solely on compliance with the objective standards in Chapter 7. There is no public hearing and, per the city's FAQ, no separate land use application fee. Building permits are issued by the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department; on top of PPRBD's own submittal requirements the city wants the ADU Application Instruction and Owner Residency Determination Affidavit and separate-sale covenant, a Colorado Springs Utilities ability-to-serve determination (produced during permit review), and, only for property in a Historic Preservation Overlay district, a Report of Acceptability. Neighbors get notice but no hearing: city planning staff issue a public notice poster during plan review that the applicant must display along the street frontage for 14 days before the building permit is issued.

Renting the ADU on a normal lease is the assumed use and the code sets no minimum lease term, but the unit may never be sold separately: before the building permit issues the owner must record a declaration of restrictions with the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder barring separate sale, and the owner may not form a common interest community consisting only of the house and its ADU. Short-term rentals are the hard limit. UDC 7.3.304 A.4.d provides that where an ADU is constructed, the principal structure, the ADU and any other building or structure on the property shall not be used as a short term rental; the city's STR page states this took effect 6/30/2025 with Ord. 25-45. Properties that already held both a legally permitted ADU and a legally permitted STR on or before June 30, 2025 may continue both as nonconforming uses under UDC 7.5.804 until the use changes or the STR permit expires, is withdrawn or is terminated. Elsewhere in the city an STR (rental under 30 days) needs an annual Short Term Rental Permit under UDC 7.5.510 with a $124.95 fee, proof of $500,000 liability coverage and a sales tax license; non-owner occupied STRs are barred from the R-E, R-1 6 and R-1 9 districts and single-family PDZ districts and must be at least 500 feet from another non-owner occupied STR.