Zoning Change Gives Homeowners New Flexibility

A seemingly minor change to Door County zoning ordinance adopted in April could help with Door County’s seasonal housing shortage.

When the Door County Planning Department updated its comprehensive plan it eliminated a provision that prohibited the construction of a secondary dwelling on a property. That prohibition meant that property owners couldn’t put an apartment above a detached garage, or a small detached guest home, on their property.

Planning Department head Mariah Goode said the prohibition had been in place for decades, but the change could make more seasonal housing available for summer workers.

“We first brought this up 12 years ago,” she said. At the time there was little support for the idea on the Resource Planning Committee. Since then Goode said it has come up often in discussions with the Door County Economic Development Committee’s Affordable Housing Committee.

Planner Becky Kerwin researched and developed the guidelines for the ordinance. There is no minimum size for the secondary dwelling (people can live in as small a space as they want, Goode said) but may not exceed 749 square feet in floor area.

Only one secondary dwelling per single family residence is permitted, and the dwelling cannot be separated in ownership from the owner of the single family residence.

The secondary dwelling can’t be rented for less than 30 days consecutive, eliminating concerns about transient rentals in residential areas.

The change provides homeowners with more flexibility, and it will be interesting to see if the change helps more young workers get their foot into Door County living in the years to come.

Full guidelines on secondary dwellings are available in the Door County Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 4 under “Secondary Dwelling Unit Requirements.”