ADU rules in Jamestown

Jamestown's zoning use table (Table 6.1) lists 'Accessory Dwellings' as a permitted use (P) in the POC, R1, R1-A, R2, R2-A and R3 districts, which covers the city's ordinary single-family and lower-density residential districts; the use is shaded (not permitted) in the RM, RMI, RMIA and R4 residential districts, A1, and every commercial and industrial district. The code never defines 'accessory dwelling' and sets no ADU-specific standards: the table's supplemental-regulations column points only to Section 7.4.A, the general accessory-building rules. City planning staff applied the use in a November 2024 Planning Commission staff report, describing an existing house that would remain behind a new principal dwelling on an R-3 lot as 'an accessory dwelling'. The row dates from the reformatted 2022 zoning ordinance (Ord. 1556) and replaced the old code's allowance of accessory 'dwelling units for servants employed on the premises or for private guests' in any district.

A second unit inside or attached to the house is clearly allowed by right in R1-A, R2, R2-A and R3, where Table 6.1 permits a 'Two-Family Dwelling' (a building containing two dwelling units on one lot, with separate entrances); there the unit is built as a duplex conversion or addition, and the district's minimum lot area for 2-4 family dwellings is 8,000 sq ft. In R1, the main single-family district, and in POC a two-family dwelling is not permitted, and the text does not settle whether the undefined 'Accessory Dwellings' use covers a unit within or attached to the house: its only supplemental reference is the accessory-building section, which points to a separate structure. R1 owners should get a written determination from the zoning administrator before designing an internal or attached unit.

Appendix C sets no floor-area cap or minimum for an accessory dwelling; the 900 sq ft minimum main-floor area in Sec. 7.5.A applies to one-family dwellings, not to the accessory use. A detached unit must meet Sec. 7.4.A: outside POC it goes in the rear yard, at least 3 ft from every lot line when 15 ft tall or less, plus 1 ft of setback for each 3 ft of added height up to a 20 ft limit, and in R1, R2, R3, RMI and RMIA accessory buildings may not exceed a 12 ft sidewall or 20 ft overall. In POC accessory buildings may also sit in side and front yards behind the required yards. The binding size limit is usually lot coverage, which counts the house and all accessory buildings together: 30% in R1 and R1-A, 40% in R2, R2-A and R3, and 10% in POC.

Nothing in Appendix C ties an accessory dwelling to owner occupancy, either at application or afterward, and the code has no owner-occupancy, deed-restriction or residency language for any housing type. The pre-2022 code limited accessory dwelling units to 'servants employed on the premises or for private guests', which implied occupancy by the household's own staff or guests, but Ord. 1556 repealed that text effective 1-3-2022 and the reformatted use table carries no occupant limit. North Dakota has no statewide ADU statute, so no state rule applies either way.

Table 9.1 requires 'Two (2) spaces for each dwelling unit' for single-family and two-family dwellings but has no row for accessory dwellings. Section 9.3 applies the requirement of the most similar listed use to any unlisted use, and the building official or the applicant may ask the Board of Adjustment for a written interpretation, so two spaces for the ADU is the probable reading; an attached unit built as a two-family dwelling falls directly under the two-per-unit rate. Properties in the Downtown Overlay District are exempt from all off-street parking requirements. Confirm the count with the zoning administrator at permit intake.

'P' in Table 6.1 means a permitted use, so an accessory dwelling in POC, R1, R1-A, R2, R2-A or R3 needs only a building permit, issued by the building inspector and approved by the zoning administrator; there is no Planning Commission hearing or council vote. Special use permits (Planning Commission review and City Council approval) apply only to uses marked SUP, and Sec. 7.3 also requires one for accessory buildings and uses on a lot whose dwelling is itself a nonconforming use. In districts where the use is shaded, a second unit would need a rezoning or planned unit development.

The current zoning text has no rule on renting an accessory dwelling, and the city code has no rental licensing, registration or short-term-rental provisions. Separate sale is not addressed, but an accessory use by definition sits on the same lot as the principal use, so the unit cannot be conveyed apart from the house without a lot split. Before 2022, Appendix C Sec. 5.10.A.1(b) provided that no accessory dwelling unit in any P-O-C, R-1 or R-2 district 'shall be let for living purposes for compensation'; Ord. 1556 repealed it effective 1-3-2022 and the reformatted ordinance did not carry it forward, although the city's planning consultant told the Planning Commission in April 2025 that the reformat 'was intended to make the Ordinance easier to follow and not to amend the regulations'. Given that history, confirm with the zoning administrator before relying on rental income in POC, R1 or R2. 'Bed and Breakfast/Resort' is a separate table use permitted only in R3 and the commercial and industrial districts.