ADU rules in Midland

Midland defines an Accessory Dwelling Unit as living quarters attached to or detached from the principal residence, and the 4.03 Use Chart lists the use with an 'S' (Specific Use Designation required) in the AE, CE, SF-1, SF-2, and SF-3 districts only; the column is blank (prohibited) in MH, TH, 2F, MF-16, MF-22, and all nonresidential districts. A detached second unit is possible on a single-family lot, but only after a case-by-case Specific Use Designation approved by City Council, and the unit can never be rented. A mobile home, travel trailer, or RV cannot serve as the detached unit.

The same Accessory Dwelling Unit use covers attached quarters: the definition says attached or detached, and §4.09.C applies its limits to ADUs including units attached to the principal residence. The same Specific Use Designation requirement and district list (AE, CE, SF-1, SF-2, SF-3) apply, and the attached unit must respect the district's setbacks and lot coverage and match the home's architecture.

The 30-percent-of-house rule means small homes get proportionally small ADUs; the 1,000 sq ft ceiling only controls for houses over about 3,333 sq ft. Detached buildings of 400 sq ft or more must meet facade material standards and roof color/material matching, the ADU must preserve or complement the principal residence's architecture, and main plus accessory buildings cannot exceed the district's lot coverage (50 to 65 percent in the single-family districts).

The ordinance contains no clause requiring the owner to live in either unit. It instead imposes something stricter: the ADU can never be leased or rented, cannot be sold or leased separately from the principal residence, and its occupants are limited to guests of, or domestic employees serving, the occupants of the principal residence, with total occupancy of both units capped at one Family. Whoever occupies the property, it must function as a single household, so the owner-occupancy question is moot in practice.

The code has no ADU-specific parking line; the ADU row in the Use Chart carries the C.1 reference, the single-family schedule. A Specific Use Designation application must also document the availability and location of off-street parking, which is an express review factor, and the Council can attach parking conditions.

An Accessory Dwelling Unit is never allowed by right anywhere in Midland. In the five districts where it is possible (AE, CE, SF-1, SF-2, SF-3) it requires a Specific Use Designation, which is processed as a Zoning Map Amendment (rezoning): application with site plan, Planning and Zoning Commission review, and City Council approval, with discretionary conditions and possible time limits.

Midland's ADU is functionally guest or domestic-staff quarters, not an income unit, even though the defined term is the modern Accessory Dwelling Unit and a Dwelling Unit by definition has complete independent living facilities including cooking. The city separately runs a short-term rental registration and 7 percent hotel-occupancy-tax program for residential STRs generally (City Code §3-3-1, Ord. No. 10190, enforced from February 1, 2022); it is a tax program and does not override the zoning ban on renting an ADU.