LAKEPORT >> The Lake County Community Development Department is looking to adjust the Building Code and current dwelling regulations to allow for the building of so called “tiny homes.” This comes after some 8,000 structures — including homes — were lost to fire over the past few years.
“A lot of people are rebuilding from fires, there are low-income individuals, families that have less income and there are students who wouldn’t have a lot of money to build a larger home,” said the county’s Assistant Planner, Jeffrey Taylor. “So it makes sense in Lake County to allow options to come and reside here.”
The subject of tiny homes has been brought up before. One issue that bogged discussion was the definition of a small house.
The county has now identified a tiny home as one being around 360 square feet and in either a cabin or a cottage form. Other options were nixed because they could also be classified as other buildings, such as a mobile home or a floating house.
Taylor said when looking into this project they had to consider what makes a tiny home different, but also gives it the same purpose and ideal living requirements.
“We had to look at what kind of regulations would surround a tiny home. Would that be different than a traditional home or would it be kind of similar to a traditional home,” Taylor said.
County supervisors and staff members also looked at such issues as blight and unsustainable growth, as well as the possibility of negative effects on existing home values. They also noted that tiny houses provide an affordable option, as well as the ability to bring more housing to the area.
The Board of Supervisors gave the recommendation to reduce the minimum width of the homes to 14 feet rather than 15 to allow a little more diversity to what could be built. They also want the size of eaves listed.
Taylor said they are looking into having “pocket” neighborhoods with the adoption of the tiny homes. These are just small, tight-knit communities where multiple tiny homes are put together with a common area to come together.
“Overall it is a safe, little, close-knit community and that’s what we would be aiming to build. They would have a significantly reduced carbon footprint because they are such a smaller floor plan so they would, overall, preserve our environmental resources in the county and they could be built in places we couldn’t currently fit a neighborhood,” Taylor said.
District 1 Supervisor Moke Simon, who presented this idea to county staff and the board earlier this year, said this is only one aspect out of the many there are for rebuilding homes. He added a great place to potentially have tiny homes built is in the Anderson Springs area.
“Not everyone is going to build a tiny home, but there are quite a few folks that are. I’ve got some email from folks who have been living in tiny homes in other places and this would give a unique opportunity here for the rebuilding situation,” Simon said.
This will also help prevent getting variances on structures that are brought in because the regulations will have a lower minimum requirement and cut time in how long it takes to do rebuilding in communities all around the county Simon said.
The county is still working on updating the regulations and Building Code to allow these tiny homes and will bring back an official draft at later date to be approved by the Board of Supervisors.
