ADU rules in Morgantown

Morgantown's code has an accessory dwelling use in only one place: Block A of the Wiles Hill Gateway Overlay District (WHOD), a few blocks of Wiles Hill bounded by Stewart Street, Highland Avenue, Raymond Street, Wellen Avenue and Lorentz Avenue, where 'Dwelling, Accessory' is an accessory use (A) in Table 1358.03.01. Everywhere else a detached backyard unit is not possible: Table 1331.05.01 has no accessory dwelling row, Sec. 1331.08(a)(11) bars sleeping quarters and cooking fixtures in accessory structures, and Sec. 1363.04(a) allows only one principal building per parcel. The city's own October 2026 staff report confirms the code 'does not contain provisions allowing for the use of ADUs, except for within ‘Block A’ of the Wiles Hill Gateway Overlay District, per Article 1358.' From 1-1-2027, W. Va. Code §8-42-2(a) and (b) (2026 SB 659) require one attached, detached or internal ADU by right on every lot with a single-family dwelling, and §8-42-3(c) invalidates conflicting local rules; an ordinance implementing that passed first reading on 9-15-2026 but is not yet adopted.

Within WHOD Block A an attached accessory dwelling is allowed only in one form: 'An attached accessory dwelling shall only be permitted above a single-family dwelling's attached garage' (Sec. 1358.03(b)(3)f.). Outside Block A there is no ADU use at all; the only route to a second unit inside or added onto a house is converting it into a two-family dwelling, which Table 1331.05.01 permits by right in R-2, R-3 and PRO (conditional use in B-4) but not in the R-1 and R-1A single-family districts. That duplex route is not an ADU: both units count as principal dwelling units and the two-family parking rate of 1.5 spaces per unit applies. State law (W. Va. Code §8-42-2(b)) protects attached, detached and internal ADUs alike from 1-1-2027, so the garage-only and Block-A-only limits are likely invalid from that date.

Sec. 1358.03(b)(3)b. caps a detached accessory dwelling at 50 percent of the single-family dwelling's first-floor gross floor area, and Sec. 1358.03(d)(2) caps detached ADUs at 20 feet (other accessory structures 18 feet). An ADU of either type may not have more bedrooms or a larger permitted occupancy than the principal house, and a parcel with a detached ADU may have no other accessory structures. No stated square-foot cap applies to the attached (over-garage) form beyond the bedroom and occupancy limits and the block's lot-coverage rules. W. Va. Code §8-42-2(c) frames attached or detached ADUs as up to 75 percent of the house's gross floor area or 1,000 sq ft, whichever is less, and (d)(7) bars 'more onerous development standards', so the tighter 50-percent-of-first-floor cap is likely invalid from 1-1-2027.

The WHOD accessory dwelling rules (Sec. 1358.03(b)(3)a. to f.) contain no owner-occupancy requirement, and the code's ADU definition in Sec. 1329.02 has none either; the only owner-occupancy rule in the zoning code belongs to bed and breakfast inns. The Housing Code exempts an owner-occupied single-family dwelling from rental registration unless it is offered to more than one tenant (Sec. 1751.01(b)), which is a registration rule, not an occupancy mandate. The pending 2026 ADU ordinance adds no owner-occupancy rule, and W. Va. Code §8-42 as enacted does not preempt one in any case.

Table 1365.04.01 sets the minimum for 'Dwelling, Accessory' at '1 space per unit', and the WHOD rules cap an ADU at one: 'The maximum number of parking spaces for an accessory dwelling unit is one space' (Sec. 1358.03(e)(2)), with residential uses in the overlay otherwise at 0.75 spaces per occupant. In Block A, Sec. 1358.04(e)(6) also requires at least one of the minimum required spaces for each dwelling unit to be in an enclosed garage, which on its face reaches the ADU's space too. The duplex route elsewhere carries 1.5 spaces per unit. W. Va. Code §8-42-2(d)(1) bars requiring additional parking for an ADU, so the one-space minimum is invalid to the extent of the conflict from 1-1-2027.

In WHOD Block A the accessory dwelling is an 'A' use, which the use-table legend defines as 'permitted as an accessory use', so no hearing applies; approval is a building permit with Type I site plan review, the administrative review Sec. 1385.05(a) assigns to single-family and two-family 'primary and secondary structures.' The two-family conversion route in R-2, R-3 and PRO is likewise a by-right P use under Type I review. Outside those routes no permit of any kind can authorize a second unit today short of a rezoning or planned unit development. The pending ordinance would keep ADUs in Type I review and add a $250 ADU permit fee, matching the cap in W. Va. Code §8-42-3(b).

Nothing in the WHOD accessory dwelling rules restricts renting the ADU or the house, but every rental dwelling unit needs a letter of compliance under Housing Code Article 1751: 'It shall be illegal for any owner or operator to rent or offer for rent any dwelling units ... without a valid letter of compliance' (Sec. 1751.04(a)), issued after inspection to an operator holding a City business license and naming a West Virginia local agent, valid three years (Secs. 1751.05 and 1751.07). Occupancy is capped by the ADU rule (no more occupants than the house) and the Article 1329 'Family' definition, which in single-family districts allows related persons, two unrelated people (plus their children) or a functional family unit the Planning Director approves. The code has no short-term-rental use, definition or license (Municode search for 'short-term rental' returns no hits); paid stays under 30 days fall within the Article 767 hotel occupancy tax definition of 'hotel', and §8-42-3(a) preserves municipal STR regulation. The pending ADU ordinance would add a short-term-rental definition and state that ADUs 'may be rented, leased, or used for short-term rental purposes subject to applicable law.'