Montavilla Neighborhood Association

Do You Have an ADU?

Feb 10, 2001

The Planning Bureau of the City of Portland wants to know what you think about Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU's). Ordinances allowing accessory dwelling units--also know as "mother-in-law apartments"--were enacted in 1998. At the time, the Planning Bureau promised to keep track of how many people used the designation for increasing the density of their properties and how it impacted neighborhoods.

When accessory dwelling units were brought up at the January meeting of the Montavilla Neighborhood Association, people had more questions about what ADU's were than comments about how they had been affected.

We would like to broaden the request for information to include our newsletter readers. Have you added ADU's to your property? Have any of your neighbors? What do you think about them? Do they blend in...or stick out? Any factual or anecdotal evidence that you would like to submit to the Planning Bureau should be directed to Mark Bello, City of Portland, Planning Bureau at 503/823-7700.

If you have more questions than answers about ADU's, the Planning Bureau's web page at http://www.planning.ci.portland.or.us/ is a great resource for additional information.