Mukilteo looks at a housing option

Published 8:10 pm Sunday, April 27, 2008

MUKILTEO — Mukilteo leaders are planning a new ordinance to allow mother-in-law apartments to be built in city neighborhoods.

Mother-in-law apartments, also called accessory dwelling units, are small apartments built on properties with single-family homes. State law requires cities with populations above 20,000 to allow mother-in-law apartments, a mark that Mukilteo recently hit.

The Mukilteo City Council is split over what type of apartments should be allowed under the new ordinance. At a recent City Council meeting, several council members said they would prefer a more restrictive ordinance.

“The fear is that once you allow it, everyone in the neighborhood is going to put an apartment in the back,” City Councilwoman Jennifer Gregerson said. “Then it’s not a single-family neighborhood anymore.”

The ability to build and rent mother-in-law apartments could help low-income residents keep their homes, Gregerson said.

“If there’s an aging couple, because they built an apartment or accessory unit, now they can live in their house and get renters to help pay their property taxes,” she said. “It’s a good thing to provide those choices and those options.”

A 12-member advisory committee is being appointed to study the issue and report back to the City Council.

There already are 30 mother-in-law apartments built in the city of Mukilteo, the majority in violation of city code. A few of them are legal because they were built before the code prohibited them, Gregerson said.

Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.