ADU rules in Fernley

A detached ADU is allowed by right as an accessory use, but only in seven of Fernley's eighteen zoning districts: GR20, RR5, RR1, RR½, SF20, SF12 and SF9. Table 32.06.150-2 leaves the 'Dwelling, accessory' cell blank for SF6, the city's densest single-family district (6,000 sq ft minimum lot, seven units per acre), and for every multifamily, mixed-use, commercial, industrial and public district; a blank cell means 'use is not permitted'. Within an allowed district the ADU may be a new building or an existing accessory building converted to living space, but only one ADU is permitted per lot and none at all on a nonconforming lot. Mobile homes, RVs and travel trailers may never be used as an ADU; a tiny home on a permanent foundation may.

An ADU may be 'adapted from part of the main structure', so basement, addition and internal-conversion units are expressly contemplated, and the code definition of an accessory dwelling unit covers a unit attached to the principal dwelling as well as one in a detached building. The attached form clears the same zoning gate as the detached form and no more: allowed in GR20, RR5, RR1, RR½, SF20, SF12 and SF9 only, one per lot, and not on a nonconforming lot. Where the unit is attached a separate entrance is allowed, but only one entrance may be visible from the front property line.

One cap applies to every ADU form, new building, converted accessory building or converted part of the house. A tiny home used as an ADU is separately capped at 400 square feet as defined in the International Residential Code. On parcels smaller than one acre, which covers all of the SF20, SF12, SF9 and RR½ districts, the ADU must be single-story. The code sets no ADU-specific height number; the general accessory-structure rule bars a detached accessory structure from exceeding the height of the permitted main structure. Setbacks are the main-structure setbacks of the district, not the reduced setbacks otherwise available to accessory buildings.

Owner occupancy is required both at permit and on an ongoing basis: 'The property owner must live on the property and maintain one of the units as the primary residence.' Before a building permit issues, the owner must record with the Lyon County Recorder a declaration of restrictions, on a form approved by the city attorney, stating that the ADU is legal only so long as the owner occupies either the primary residence or the ADU, that the ADU cannot be sold separately, and that the restriction binds successors in ownership, with non-compliance exposing the owner to legal action. The city publishes an example 'Restriction As To Uses' form for this purpose. No state law preempts this requirement here: NRS 278.257 (from AB 396, 2025) reaches only cities of 60,000 or more, and Fernley is far below that.

Sec. 32.07.020, read in full as amended by Ord. No. 2023-007, contains no parking standard. Table 32.09.120-2 lists ratios by use type and has no 'Dwelling, accessory' row; single-family detached dwellings need 1 space per bedroom and not less than 2 per unit. Sec. 32.09.120(b) provides that for any use not specifically covered the requirement 'shall be determined by the administrator based on actual parking demand associated with that use', so a reviewer can still ask for spaces. Treat this as a question to confirm with Planning, not a settled zero: the city's own online FAQ still quotes the repealed pre-2020 accessory-dwelling section, which did require one additional off-street space.

In the use table an ADU carries an 'A', defined as 'Permitted as an accessory use if the use meets the standards established in the zoning district'. No conditional use permit and no public hearing are required in the seven districts where ADUs are allowed; building permits are administrative decisions applying non-discretionary rules, made by city staff without a hearing. The one non-routine step is the recorded deed restriction: the declaration must be approved by the city attorney as to form and content and filed with the county recorder before the building permit is obtained. Outside the seven listed districts there is no conditional-use path either, because unlisted and blank-cell uses are presumed prohibited.

Sec. 32.07.020 places no limit on renting the ADU, and because the owner must live in one of the two units the other is the one available to rent. The recorded restriction ties the ADU's legality to continued owner occupancy and forbids selling it separately, in perpetuity. A Fernley business license is not required of 'any person who owns less than four residential rental units'. On the short-term side, FMC 32.07.382 is captioned 'Short-term rentals (reserved)' and carries no text, the use table's Lodging/Short-Term Rental category lists only bed and breakfast and hotel/motel (neither allowed in any SF district), and Sec. 32.06.150 says no use is allowed unless listed and that unlisted uses are presumed prohibited. The city's 11 percent transient lodging tax reaches a 'rental business' of three or more rental units under one definition and four or more rooms under the other, so it would not normally catch a single ADU.