Gulfport, MS Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Appendix D's Article 7 defines an Ancillary Dwelling Unit, or ADU, as an apartment no larger than 800 square feet that shares ownership and utility connections with a Principal Building; it may or may not sit inside an Outbuilding, and any entry attached to the Principal Building cannot be visible from the Frontage Line. The definition states directly that under Restricted Residential Function, meaning single-family use, the property owner must occupy either the ADU or the principal dwelling, which rules out renting both units to non-owner tenants.

ADUs do not count toward the maximum density calculations in Tables 11, 12 and 16, which is the incentive for building one. 3(h), governing Building Function and Density in the T3 Sub-Urban zone, adds procedural teeth: an Outbuilding used as an ADU requires one additional off-street parking space, and the property owner must record a covenant with the Planning Office stipulating that the ADU use will stop if the owner's principal residence leaves the property for more than six months in a year. 3(e) permits the same Limited Lodging, Limited Office and ADU accessory uses within Outbuildings in the denser T4 zone.

Because this is SmartCode content, it governs only within a Community Planning Area that has elected the SmartCode zoning option; ADUs on land under conventional Appendix A zoning are governed by that appendix's own accessory-use rules, not this definition.