My name is Letty Hardi, and I serve as Mayor of Falls Church. I’ll caveat that I'm speaking on my own behalf. I want to offer perspective from a locality that has legalized detached backyard cottages and assuage concerns. ADUs are a small, commonsense tool that help communities meet real needs—whether it’s a place for an aging parent, a grown child saving for their own home, a teacher or nurse who wants to live near where they work, or a homeowner looking for modest supplemental income so they can afford to stay in their home. In the cities that have legalized backyard cottages - they have shown to be a small, incremental step. They don't flood the neighborhood with cars, they don't destroy community character - they are a very incremental change that allows property owners to add flexibility to their property as needs change. And in fact, if you care about preserving older more affordable housing stock instead of large McMansions, allowing backyard cottages can be a real option. Today the default is someone aging may sell their smaller, older home and then a developer razes that starter home and turns it into that McMansion. Instead, if they were allowed to build an ADU, the original home could be preserved. ADUs provide flexibility and choices for people as their housing needs change. If we want to solve the housing crisis - you have to face the reality that majority of our land is dedicated to single family zoning and allowing people to add backyard cottages in their neighborhoods is a baby step to allow that land to be used for smaller forms of housing - ADUs have to be part of the toolbox.

Please see attached letter in support of Senate Bill 531.

The North Virginia Beach Civic League (NVBCL) joins the City of Virginia Beach and the Virginia Municipal League in opposing SB531. As you did for the companion HB611, we ask that you continue SB531 to 2027 to allow stakeholders time to work out amendments that can gain wider support. Speaking on behalf of SB531 before the Senate Local Government Committee, the Patron Senator Srinivasan claimed 3 times, including in direct response to a direct question from a Senator, that the substitute was permissive. HOWEVER, the primary provision of this bill in paragraph B still states: "Zoning ordinances for single-family residential zoning districts shall be deemed to include accessory dwelling units as a permitted accessory use, and no locality shall require compliance with any other requirements except as provided in this section." As it was for HB611, this is an unnecessary and inappropriate pre-emption of local zoning authority. We request an amendment to either remove this paragraph or make it permissive, as the Patron claimed was intended with the substitute, rather than pre-emptive. We also still take exception to paragraphs D.6, E.1, and E.2, with our requested amendments to these stated in my email to each of you. We continue to support allowing ADUs in our neighborhood, provided that they are on lots that can reasonably accommodate them and that our city can determine appropriate requirements for them. We would support this bill with the amendments requested above, but we cannot support this bill in its current form.

Pacific Legal Foundation supports Senate Bill 531. Please see attached comments.