Detached condominiums

[giff57]

I have had a developer come to me with an idea that I like, but our code is making things difficult. I think I may have an angle that will work, but I want to find out if this sort of thing has been done before. The proposal is to build several small single family homes in a zone where single family to multi family is allowed. There is not enough room to get the required lot area needed for a conventional single family development.

My idea to make this thing work is to treat it like detached condos. The developer or an owners assoc. would retain ownership of the land, and the homes would be sold just like condos. Ever heard of detached condos? Examples would be wonderful.

This project would rid me of one of my worst mobile home parks, so I would like to see this one go. It is even infill, which is very rare here. So have at it folks.

By the way, the total area is too small to work for our PUD requirements.

 

[el Guapo]

Do your regulations allow for...

...a conditional use? Same as a PUD, just more flexable.

 

[giff57]

Re: Do your regulations allow for...

El Guapo wrote:
...a conditional use? Same as a PUD, just more flexable.

We don't have conditional uses defined in our code, got an example of a conditional use code section?

 

[Chet]

Absolutely!

Detached condos can be done. There are a few examples in Wisconsin, typically senior housing. I saw one recently (I thing in Madison, WI?) Owners have their building pads and the grounds are common open spaces, thereby *no* sideyard offset requirements.

Congrats on thinking outside the box, Giff!

 

[Cardinal]

Saddlebrook, with a Grayslake address (actually in one of the Round Lakes - Beach, Park or Village, I'm not sure) in the Chicago area is a detached single-family home condo development for seniors. I've been trying to get our local developers interested in the concept. We may try it on a brownfield site we own. Good luck!

 

[el Guapo]

Hummm?

GiffBaby!
No I don't have an example handy. But I did work under a county zoning regs set once that functioned that way instead of defined districts. Mike Gurnee might have a digital copy of a set of municipal regs that allow for conditional uses.

I did see this done once with a trailer park that was supposed to be an upscale park. Almost the same thing.

Mike, can you help this fella?

 

[giff57]

Ok, I've got one for you

Now I just have to sell this thing to the Board of Adjustment. I will need luck and more. The plus side is that this developer could sell water to a drowning person.

 

[Ralph Bouwmeester]

I believe there are examples in Ontario, Canada, that were done by the Rice Group. One I can think of is a seniors' development called Wilmot Creek...a gated community on the north shore of Lake Ontario (brrrrr) in the Municipality of Clarington (Durham Region) about an hour east of Toronto.

 

[Linden Smith]

Landominiums

These are for the high end retirees just before they go to assisted living. Basically they buy the home, but not the land, and enter into a complex ownership regime with a maintenance agreement and a buy back for the operators.

I think you can just plat it as one lot with private street standards within the area. The homes are parceled, but not lotted and are not conveyed in ownership. The heavy lifting is done by the attorneys for the developer, who write up the vertical, or in this case, horizontal regime, and all other agreements.

I'm not aware of any national building codes which would conflict with this, but your zoning sounds like it should work ok.

 

[Katherine Hess]

We had a detached condominium project approved - and partly built - here in Davis. There were five or six units per lot. Complicating the matter some, we needed to get the density up to our minimum, so a few of the buildings were required to have two units (duplex condominiums!).

The subsequent developer for the second phase of the project came in for a zone change and built the same product as single-family detached units, with a HOA.

Some words of advice: Be explicit in your process about what areas are public and what are private. Cover exclusive use, mainenance, and (especially) fence heights and locations. Make sure you identify allowed (and maybe prohibited) uses for any common or recreation areas. If you are counting the parking spaces in the driveways, it's probably not a good idea to allow CC&Rs that prohibit outside parking. In your approvals, be sure you know whether - and in what circumstances - building remodel and explansio is allowed. What about trellises, gazebos, and pools? Remember, you may be dealing with what looks like a multifamily project, but each owner is going to think that his unit is his house - and will expect to be able to do the same thing most homeowners can.

Have fun!