ADU rules in Salina

Salina's zoning code (Chapter 42) has no accessory dwelling unit use at all: quoted full-code searches for 'accessory dwelling', 'accessory apartment', 'garage apartment', 'second dwelling' and 'granny' return zero hits. A backyard unit with its own kitchen would be a second dwelling unit (Sec. 42-667 defines a dwelling unit by its 'cooking space and lawful sanitary facilities'), and Sec. 42-61(a) allows 'Not more than one (1) principal residential structure' on a zoning lot unless the district regulations say otherwise, which none of the A-1, RS, R, R-1, R-2, R-2.5 or R-3 regulations do; Sec. 42-61(b) even withholds the agricultural district's any-number-of-structures allowance from residential structures. The only exception the section names is a planned development district under Article VII, which takes a rezoning. The nearest lawful backyard structure is the RS district's guest house, which must have no kitchen and may not be rented or occupied as a housekeeping unit (Sec. 42-58(a)(5)).

There is no attached or internal ADU either, but a second unit inside or attached to a house is lawful in three districts as a two-family dwelling. Sec. 42-665 defines a single-family dwelling as 'a residential building containing one (1) dwelling unit only', so a basement or addition with its own kitchen turns the house into a 'Two-family dwelling' (Sec. 42-666). Two-family dwellings are permitted by right only in R-2 (Sec. 42-172, 'Two-family detached', plus single-family attached up to two units per building), R-2.5 (Sec. 42-187) and R-3 (Sec. 42-202), on lots of at least 6,000 sq ft in R-2 or 3,000 sq ft per family in R-2.5 and R-3, at least 50 ft wide. In the A-1, RS, R and R-1 districts only single-family dwellings are permitted (Secs. 42-112, 42-127, 42-142, 42-157), so no second unit of any kind is available there. Even where allowed, the result is a duplex of two co-equal units, not a subordinate accessory unit.

Chapter 42 sets no size for an accessory dwelling because none exists. The nearest numbers govern uninhabitable accessory buildings: Sec. 42-58(a)(1) caps a storage building, workshop, gazebo or greenhouse accessory to a dwelling at 360 sq ft and no taller than the dwelling or 16 ft, whichever is less; Sec. 42-58(a)(2) caps a detached garage or carport accessory to a one- or two-family dwelling at 770 sq ft (1,200 sq ft in A-1 or RS) and no taller than the dwelling or 20 ft; an attached garage may not exceed the size of the dwelling (42-58(a)(3)); and no accessory building may be larger than the principal building it serves (42-58(b)(5)). The RS guest house carries no stated size cap beyond those bulk rules, but it may have no kitchen. For the one lawful second-unit route, a two-family dwelling in R-2, R-2.5 or R-3, there is no unit-size cap; the limits are lot area (6,000 sq ft in R-2; 3,000 sq ft per family in R-2.5 and R-3), 50 ft lot width and 40 percent maximum lot coverage (Secs. 42-174 as amended by Ord. No. 25-11252, 42-189, 42-204).

No ADU exists for an owner-occupancy rule to attach to, and the one lawful way to add a unit, a two-family dwelling in R-2, R-2.5 or R-3, is listed as a permitted use with no residency condition (Secs. 42-172, 42-187, 42-202). A full-code search for 'owner-occupied' finds only an IRC lodging-house amendment, a backflow-device rule and a mobile home park register, none of them zoning conditions on dwellings. The RS guest house is tied to 'guests of the occupants of the principal building', a household test rather than an ownership test. Kansas has no statute imposing or preempting ADU owner occupancy.

Sec. 42-553(1)l requires 'two (2) spaces for each dwelling unit' for single-family, two-family and townhome dwellings, so converting a house into a two-family dwelling raises the requirement from 2 to 4 spaces, and Sec. 42-551 applies the schedule whenever an existing structure or use is expanded. Sec. 42-552(d) lets driveway area count toward the requirement for single-family and two-family dwellings, while open parking may cover no more than 60 percent of a front yard. A reduction can be requested from the Board of Commissioners or the Board of Zoning Appeals on parking-demand findings (Sec. 42-554). Kansas has no statewide parking preemption.

It depends entirely on the district. In R-2, R-2.5 and R-3 a two-family dwelling is a permitted use, so a conversion needs only a building permit and the zoning certificate the zoning administrator issues under Sec. 42-596(a)(1), with no hearing. In A-1, RS, R and R-1 there is no permit path: a second unit is not a permitted, accessory or conditional use, and Sec. 42-597 says the Board of Zoning Appeals 'is not authorized' to grant 'A variance which would allow a use not otherwise permitted in the zoning district' or one that 'would increase residential density above the maximum allowed'. The only routes there are legislative, a zoning map amendment to R-2 or higher or a planned development district under Article VII, each heard by the Planning Commission and adopted by City Commission ordinance. SB 418's by-right process (2026, effective on publication in the statute book) reaches only projects that already 'comply with established land use regulations', so it can shorten the R-2/R-2.5/R-3 conversion route but opens nothing in the single-family districts.

The RS guest house must be used 'for the occasional housing of guests of the occupants of the principal building, and not as rental units' (Sec. 42-58(a)(5)). Quoted full-code searches for 'short-term rental', 'short term rental', 'vacation rental', 'rental registration', 'rental license' and 'rental property' all return zero hits, so Salina has neither a short-term rental regime nor a long-term rental licensing program. Nightly lodging otherwise falls within the zoning definition of a hotel ('sleeping accommodations for transients on a daily or weekly basis', including a 'tourist cabin', Sec. 42-693), which is not a listed use in any residential district read for this entry; the residential lodging path is a bed and breakfast of up to six guest rooms, available only through a Board of Zoning Appeals home occupation certificate and operated by a resident (Sec. 42-60(1)f, (4)b). Hotels and accommodations brokers owe the city's transient guest tax under its tourism charter ordinance (up to 7.75 percent). Kansas has no statewide short-term rental statute in force; 2026 HB 2481's permit-cap moratorium expired 7-25-2026.