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Pearland City Council struck down a resident’s request to build an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, following a denial of a similar request from another resident in February.
The details
City Council voted unanimously at its May 11 meeting to deny Mario Moreno’s conditional use permit request to build a 1,856 square foot ADU on his 1-acre lot.
Moreno said he wanted to build the ADU to care for his sick mother and father, who had lost his job during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Planning and Zoning Commission voted 5-1 to recommend approval of the permit, stating that the proposed ADU aligned with the city’s unified development code.
Those opposed
Council members said the property, which is zoned single-family residential, should remain strictly single-family.
“I’m going to be against it simply because putting two in one piece of land now makes it a multi-family dwelling instead of [residential] that it’s already zoned for,” council member Rick Fernandez said at the meeting.
Council member Rushi Patel said he was concerned the property could eventually be turned into a rental property, a concern that council has cited for denying ADU requests in the past.
Council member Clint Byrom said the structure Moreno wanted to build more resembled a full-scale home than an accessory home, and that he should have his property replatted into two individual lots and build one home on each lot in compliance with existing zoning.
“This is not a bedroom or a bathroom that’s added onto the house,” Byrom said. “This is two full freestanding homes.”
In case you missed it
In February, City Council denied a conditional use permit request to build an ADU in Pearland’s Green Tee Terrace neighborhood, citing concerns that the space could be used in the future to rent to non-family members, according to previous reporting by Community Impact.
The Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4-2 to recommend approval of the permit at its Feb. 2 meeting, according to city documents.
Looking ahead
The Planning and Zoning Commission will host a joint workshop May 18 with council to discuss the ongoing rewrite of the city’s unified development code, focusing on the city’s rules about ADUs.
