ADU rules in Amarillo

Amarillo's zoning has no ADU, garage apartment, or guest house category; the only detached secondary dwelling the code recognizes is a Servant's or Caretaker's Quarters, and the Schedule of Uses marks it prohibited in the single-family districts R-1, R-2, and R-3 as well as MD-1 and MH. It is permitted by right in the A, MD-2, MF-1, MF-2, office, commercial, and industrial districts, but occupants are limited to people employed on the premises or their immediate family and it may not be rented as a separate unit, so it cannot operate as an independent ADU even there. Any detached backyard structure with sleeping space and a kitchen meets the code's Housing Unit definition and falls under this use; without a kitchen it is just a residential accessory building.

Adding an attached second unit with its own kitchen makes the building a Two-Family Housing Unit (duplex), which the Schedule of Uses prohibits in R-1, R-2, and R-3; duplexes are permitted starting in the MD-1 district and in MD-2, multifamily, office, and most commercial districts on a minimum 3,000 sq ft lot. The code also provides that an accessory structure sharing a wall or connected by a roof counts as part of the main residential building, so an attached unit cannot be created through the accessory building rules either. In R-1, R-2, and R-3 an attached addition is only lawful as more space within the single Housing Unit.

Chapter 4-10 sets no maximum floor area for any accessory building or quarters. What limits a backyard structure's size is the district's lot coverage percentage and height cap in Table 1 (Summary of Development Standards) plus the accessory building setbacks of §4-10-191; the 200 sq ft figure is only a setback threshold, not a size limit.

Nothing in the zoning chapter requires the property owner to live in the main house or the secondary unit. Amarillo instead restricts who may occupy the secondary unit itself: a servants or caretakers quarters may only house persons employed on the premises or their immediate family. That is an occupant employment restriction, not an owner-occupancy rule, and no owner-occupancy language appears anywhere in Chapter 4-10.

Residential parking minimums live in Table 1: a one-family detached home needs 2 spaces in the agricultural, R, and MD districts, dropping to 1 space in most office and commercial districts. Parking for one- and two-family units may be met with backing maneuvers onto the street, unlike other uses.

Where the Schedule of Uses shows a permitted square, a servants or caretakers quarters is a by-right use needing only building permits: A, MD-2, MF-1, MF-2, O-1, O-2, NS, GR, LC, CB, HC, I-1, and I-2 (and PD per its site plan). The use carries no 'S' designation in any district, so there is no specific-use-permit path where it is prohibited; in R-1, R-2, R-3, MD-1, and MH the only route to a secondary unit would be rezoning.

The defining feature of Amarillo's only ADU-like use is its rental ban: the unit exists for on-premises employees, not tenants, so long-term rental of a backyard unit to the general public is not lawful in any district. For short stays the city imposes no zoning permit or registration, but the tax code's Hotel definition expressly sweeps in houses and apartments rented for up to 30 consecutive days, taxed and filed monthly through the city's portal.