ADU rules in Killeen

Killeen has no accessory dwelling unit ordinance; the closest thing is a detached guest house, permitted in only two districts: A-R1 (agricultural single-family, 1-acre minimum lots) and SR-2 (suburban residential). One guest house per lot is allowed by right there, capped at 25 percent of the main home's floor area, and it can never be rented or leased. In the common R-1, SR-1, and SF-2 single-family districts, only ordinary accessory buildings and servants' quarters (living quarters for household staff, never a separate domicile) are allowed, so a detached independent second dwelling is not available on most lots.

There is no attached accessory dwelling pathway. Even where guest houses are allowed, the ordinance requires them to be detached, and quarters built into the main house are treated simply as part of that house: servants' quarters may be a portion of the main building but by definition cannot be rented or used as a separate domicile. A genuinely separate attached second unit would make the building a two-family dwelling, which requires R-2 zoning (or R-3, closed to new rezonings since 2010).

The guest house size limit is relative, not a fixed square footage: a 2,000 sq ft home allows a guest house up to about 500 sq ft. The citywide accessory-building rule adds 5-ft separations from the main building and from rear and interior side lot lines.

Neither the guest house standards nor any other Chapter 31 provision requires the owner to live on the property; the guest house standards cover only detachment, size, parking, and the rental ban. The occupancy controls Killeen uses instead are the outright prohibition on renting a guest house and, for servants' quarters, the tie to staff employed on the premises. The code's only owner-occupancy language appears in an unrelated heritage-preservation hardship provision.

Every single-family lot in any district must have two off-street spaces; adding a guest house in A-R1 or SR-2 triggers exactly one additional space under the guest house standards. Spaces must have an all-weather surface connected by an all-weather driveway to a street or alley.

Where guest houses are allowed at all (A-R1 and SR-2), they are a by-right permitted accessory use: 'one guest home per lot shall be permitted' subject to listed standards, with no conditional use permit, hearing, or special exception. Construction still needs a standard building permit with a surveyed plot plan, applied for through the MGO Connect portal since September 2024. In districts without the guest house allowance there is no approval path short of rezoning, because Killeen's districts permit only listed uses.

The guest house rental ban in A-R1 and SR-2 is absolute, so a Killeen guest house cannot legally be an income unit despite Fort Cavazos rental demand. The citywide STR regime requires a life-safety inspection, $500,000 in liability insurance, a local responsible party reachable 24 hours, and hotel occupancy tax remittance; §31-186(17) lists short-term rentals as a permitted R-1 use in accordance with Article VII.