ADU rules in Albany

One detached ADU is allowed outright on any lot with one legally established single-dwelling unit. Table 3.050-1 marks 'SDU with one Accessory Dwelling Unit or Single Room Occupancy Unit' as 'Y' (allowed with no land use review) in every residential zone except HDR, that is in RR, R-10, R-6.5, HM, R-5, RM and RMA. There is no minimum lot size gate: ADC 3.080(4)(a)(iii) asks only that the lot was legally established. Detached ADUs get their own siting rules: the front setback must be at or behind the front wall of the house, side and rear setbacks are 5 feet for one story and 8 feet for two stories, and height is capped at 24 feet to the roof ridge. Only one ADU or one SRO unit per lot, and ADUs are not allowed with SRO developments.

The Article 22 definition expressly covers every attached form: an ADU 'may be attached to or interior to the primary single-dwelling unit, a detached structure, or in a portion of a detached accessory structure (e.g., above a garage or workshop).' Attached, internal and garage-conversion ADUs run under the same ADC 3.080(4) standards as detached ones, and the detached-only setback and 24-foot height rules in 3.080(4)(a)(iv) do not apply to them. Ordinance 6059, effective March 14, 2025, added an explicit conversion path: an existing accessory structure legally established before March 14, 2025 may be converted to an ADU as long as the conversion does not increase the structure's nonconformity and meets building code.

ADC 3.080(4)(a)(i) caps an ADU at 900 square feet flat, with no percent-of-house formula. The only extra squeeze is on small houses: if the primary dwelling is 900 square feet or less, the ADU must be at least 25 square feet smaller than the house. Ordinance 6059 (effective March 14, 2025) produced this rule as a Housing Implementation Plan action described as 'Increase ADU size as a percentage of the main house; keep maximum size of 900 square feet,' which loosened an older proportional limit while holding the 900 sq ft ceiling. Detached ADUs are additionally capped at 24 feet to the roof ridge, below the 30-foot zone height limit, and the whole lot stays subject to the Table 3.190-1 maximum lot coverage (20 percent in RR, 50 percent in R-10, 60 percent in R-6.5, HM and R-5, 70 percent in RM, 75 percent in RMA). ADUs over 900 sq ft legally built before July 1, 2007 are grandfathered.

Albany imposes no owner-occupancy condition on ADUs. The complete list of ADU standards in ADC 3.080(4)(a) covers size, building permits, historic review, lot legality, detached setbacks and height, and conversions, and never mentions who lives on the property; the parallel mixed-use list in ADC 5.070(16)(a) is the same. The only owner-occupancy rule anywhere in the residential code is for bed and breakfast facilities at ADC 3.080(7)(a). This also matches state law: ORS 197A.425(1)(b)(B) provides that 'reasonable local regulations relating to siting and design' for ADUs 'does not include owner-occupancy requirements of either the primary or accessory structure,' which binds Albany as a city over 2,500 population. Nothing is preempted here because nothing conflicting is on the books.

Albany requires no off-street parking for an ADU, and in fact requires none for any use citywide. Ordinance 6018, effective June 30, 2023, carried out Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities parking reform under OAR 660 Division 12 by repealing the city's minimum parking requirements and replacing them with maximums; the amendment record describes it as 'repeal parking, set maximum parking, update bike parking standards.' What survives in Article 9 is a single table, Table 9.020-1 'MAXIMUM PARKING STANDARDS,' which has no residential rows at all, and ADC 9.020(8)(b)(vi) exempts 'single-dwelling and middle housing dwelling units' even from the maximum count. So an ADU builder may add parking but is never obliged to. State law reaches the same result independently: ORS 197A.425(1)(b)(B) bars 'requirements to construct additional off-street parking' for ADUs.

An ADU is a use allowed outright, not a discretionary approval. In Table 3.050-1 the SDU-with-one-ADU row is coded 'Y', which the table key defines as a 'use allowed without land use review procedures but must meet development standards in this article and may be subject to special conditions.' The only sign-off is ministerial: ADC 3.080(4)(a)(ii) requires that 'all required building permits have been obtained.' The city's 2026-2027 fee schedule corroborates this, listing no ADU land use application fee at all, only building permit and SDC charges. The one discretionary layer is historic: if the primary dwelling sits on the Local Historic Inventory or in the Downtown, Hackleman, Monteith or Municipal Airport National Register districts, Article 7 historic review applies to new construction over 100 square feet, decided by the Community Development Director after a 14-day comment period with notice to owners within 100 feet, and referable to the Landmarks Commission at the Director's discretion.

Nothing in the Development Code limits who may occupy an ADU or for how long, and there is no separate-sale or deed-restriction requirement; the ADU simply cannot be sold off on its own because it is not on its own lot (an SDU with an ADU counts as one dwelling unit for density under the Article 22 definition). Short-term renting is permitted but taxed and tracked rather than licensed: AMC 3.14.020(4) folds a 'vacation rental' occupied for less than 30 days into the definition of a lodging facility, and AMC 3.14.060 requires 'every person engaging or about to engage in business as a lodging provider of a lodging facility in the City' to register with the Tax Administrator, within 15 days of starting up. The Finance Department's page gives the combined rate as 9.0 percent city, 3.0 percent county and 1.5 percent state, and says Albany uses Granicus Host Compliance to find unregistered STRs. Albany has no short-term rental land use permit, cap or primary-residence test; Title 5 of the municipal code contains no STR licensing chapter.