DATE: Wednesday, August 6, 1997             TAG: 9708060460

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TONI GUAGENTI, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   58 lines

PANEL SUPPORTS HOME ADDITIONS TO HELP ELDERLY IN THE BEACH

Citizens should be able to build an addition to a house for their aging relatives regardless of the size lot they live on, a committee studying senior housing issues told the City Council on Tuesday.

The group - called the Senior Housing Committee - convened in November to study the need for more retirement options at the Beach to meet a growing demand for senior housing.

But allowing additions onto homes could threaten the stability of single-family neighborhoods by introducing multifamily dwellings, a concern the committee believes can be addressed through additional permits.

By 2000, Virginia Beach will have more senior citizens than any other South Hampton Roads city; by 2030, seniors will total about a third of the nation's population.

The group, which was created last year by council members Barbara M. Henley and Nancy K. Parker, focused on the issue of single-family living for seniors. It will examine multifamily housing issues when it reconvenes in September.

The report recommends that the city relax its zoning ordinances and lift lot-size limitations on the building of such additions, which have been dubbed mother-in-law suites, granny flats, accessory apartments or flex suites. The law currently says they must be built on lots a half-acre or larger. These suites include a kitchen area with a stove, which makes them different from most home additions.

``Doing flex suites doesn't cost the government a dime and allows citizens to address some of their family needs,'' Henley told her council colleagues.

The report recommends that the suites go through an administrative review process by the city Planning Department instead of a public hearing process to receive a conditional-use permit.

Several council members had questions for committee members, several wondering what will happen when the person the flex suite was created for dies.

``I think it's a good goal,'' said Councilman Louis R. Jones. ``But my concern is, in a block, you could get four or five of these places . . . (and) what you've created is a multifamily neighborhood.''

Henley said the committee tried to take precautions to make sure the integrity of the single-family neighborhood remained intact.

The committee proposed doing that in several ways:

Requiring a permit to make sure the owner agrees to occupy a portion of the structure, recertify it annually and make sure the house doesn't lose its single-family appearance.

Requiring both portions of the house to share the same electric and water meters.

Maintaining requirements for how much land a house can cover on a lot.

The committee didn't have agreement on all the issues. Some members wanted to inform adjoining property owners of a neighbor's plan to build a flex suite. Others wanted to mandate parking if a suite is built.

They also split on earmarking the flats for those 62 years or older or for the handicapped.

The committee said it is leaving the resolution of those issues to the City Council, which should address the recommendations by the end of the month.

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