Glendale, CA Accessory Structures: ADU Rules (2026)

080, a property owner in any zone that allows single-family or multi-family housing can build an ADU without a conditional use permit or design-review hearing; the Community Development Department processes the application ministerially. A detached ADU built as new construction tops out at 850 square feet, rising to 1,000 square feet if the unit has more than one bedroom, and an ADU attached to the primary house cannot exceed 50 percent of the existing or proposed floor area of that house. Height is capped at 16 feet for a detached unit behind a single-family home, 18 feet, plus 2 feet for a matching roof pitch, if the lot sits within a half mile of a major transit stop, and 25 feet, or the zone's own limit if lower, for an attached unit; no ADU may exceed two stories.

Interior setbacks fall to four feet minimum, and no setback at all is required where the ADU reuses an existing building's footprint. A junior ADU must stay inside the walls of the single-family house, cannot exceed 500 square feet, and needs only an efficiency kitchen with a sink and cooking appliance rather than a full kitchen. One ADU and one JADU can share a single-family lot. Multi-family lots may add up to eight detached ADUs where dwellings already exist, or two where the multi-family building is only proposed.

Owners cannot rent an ADU for less than 30 days, cannot sell it separately from the main house except under Government Code § 66341, and any unit under 750 square feet is exempt from the parks and library development impact fee. New construction ADUs are barred from sitting above a detached garage or carport, and fire sprinklers are required only if the primary residence already needs them.