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Los Angeles City Councilman Gil Cedillo Monday praised a new state law that reduces red tape and the cost of building “granny flats,” which he said will help ease the city’s housing crunch.

Accessory Dwelling Units — commonly referred to as granny flats — are secondary units built on the property of a single-family home, such as a converted garage, a guest house or a smaller unit within an existing home.

SB 1069, whick took effect on Jan. 1, eased a number of regulations on granny flats by reducing parking restrictions, eliminating sprinkler requirements, reducing or eliminating water and sewage hookup fees, increasing the maximum allowed size of a granny flat, and requiring ministerial approval of conversion of an existing structure to a granny flat.

Cedillo’s office estimated the new law could help create 5,000 to 10,000 new units in Los Angeles.

“We have a housing crisis in Los Angeles and an incredible need for 100,000 units of housing,” Cedillo said, referring to a city goal to build that many units by 2021.

Sen. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, authored SB 1069, which applies to granny flat units under 1,200 square feet.

Appearing alongside Cedillo at a City Hall news conference, the Bay Area lawmaker said he had found it was costing some homeowners up to $60,000 in regulatory fees just to get approval to build a granny flat, essentially the same regulatory cost of building a 10,000-square-foot mansion.

“So we put together a bill that attacks some of these barriers and removes some of these barriers and returns the decision making to the person who owns the house,” Wieckowski said.

–City News Service

California’s new ‘granny flats’ law gets some Los Angeles love was last modified: by

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