Colorado Springs caps a new accessory dwelling unit at 1,250 square feet, or half the floor area of the house, whichever is smaller. On a 1,400 square foot bungalow, the cap drops to 750.
I'm Brandon Behr, a REALTOR® with the Behr & Behr Team in Colorado Springs, and the direct answer is yes, on most single-family lots inside the city, through an administrative approval rather than a council vote. Step outside city limits into unincorporated El Paso County and the answer flips to no, at least not one you may rent.
What the state ADU law actually did, and where it stops
Colorado's ADU statute is HB24-1152, signed by the Governor on May 13, 2024, per the Colorado General Assembly's bill page. It sits at C.R.S. 29-35-401 through 403 and binds local governments on and after June 30, 2025.
Now the part that gets reported wrong. It is not a statewide mandate. The signed act reaches only "subject jurisdictions," meaning municipalities over 1,000 people inside a metropolitan planning organization, plus the slice of a county inside both an MPO and a census designated place of more than 40,000. Writing in Colorado Lawyer in July 2025, attorney Amy Brimah counted roughly 67 qualifying jurisdictions across Colorado's five MPOs and named Colorado Springs as one. Our MPO is the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments.
Unincorporated El Paso County is not captured. Its largest census designated place, Security-Widefield, counted 38,639 residents in the 2020 Census per U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, and Cimarron Hills counted 19,311. Both fall short. If a blog tells you Colorado legalized ADUs statewide in 2024, it is describing a law that does not reach most of this county's land area. The statute also did not void HOA covenants.
The Colorado Springs standards, in the city's own words
Council passed the rewrite on first reading March 25, 2025 and took final action April 8, 2025 on a 5 to 3 vote, per Colorado Public Radio's March 26, 2025 report and Colorado Politics' March 25, 2025 coverage. The standards live in Unified Development Code section 7.3.304E, published by American Legal Publishing.
- Where. One per lot, allowed "in any zone district, overlay district, or other location where single-family detached dwellings are allowed." Detached and attached units are barred in the Wildland Urban Interface Overlay, but integrated units carved out inside the house are still allowed there.
- Size and height. Fifty percent of the principal structure's floor area or 1,250 square feet, whichever is less, dropping to 750 where the house is under 1,500 square feet. Detached units cap at 16 feet, or 25 above an existing garage.
- Setbacks. Front and side may not exceed those for the primary dwelling. Rear is the lesser of the standard accessory building setback or five feet.
- Owner occupancy. The owner "must demonstrate that said property owner resides on the property when submitting an application," waived only when the ADU goes up alongside a brand new house.
- Parking. "One off-street parking space shall be provided in addition to the minimum parking required for the principal structure."
- Paperwork. A declaration recorded with the El Paso County Clerk barring separate sale, plus a written capacity confirmation from the water and wastewater provider.
Review is administrative. The Manager decides "based solely on the proposed ADU's compliance with the objective standards." Neighbors get posted notice and the decision is appealable, but nobody holds a hearing on whether it suits the block.
Council member Dave Donelson, arguing for the residency rule at the March 25, 2025 hearing, told Colorado Politics: "I think it makes perfect sense that this will be less impactful for neighborhoods if a property owner has to reside in one of the two residences versus having two rental properties." An out-of-town investor cannot build one here.
Where the city code and the state statute do not line up
C.R.S. 29-35-403(2) bars a subject jurisdiction from requiring new off-street parking for an ADU. Subsection (3) carves out two narrow allowances: designating an existing space, or requiring one new space where the parcel has no off-street parking and on-street parking is prohibited. The city's code, as published, requires one additional space with no such condition attached.
I am not a lawyer and I will not declare the city out of compliance. The two texts read differently. If parking is the constraint that kills your project, that belongs with a land use attorney, not with me.
The county uses a different word and a different rule
Unincorporated El Paso County does not say ADU. It says accessory living quarters. Per the county Planning and Community Development quick tips sheet on Accessory Living Quarters, an ALQ is lodging accessory to the principal dwelling, is not classified as a dwelling unit, and is allowed in F-5, A-35, A-5, RR-5, RR-2.5, RR-0.5, RS-20000, RS-6000, RS-5000 and RT zoning.
The restrictions are the story. One per property, capped at 1,500 square feet and at the size of the primary residence. Separate utility meters prohibited. An attached ALQ is by right, while a detached one for permanent occupancy needs special use approval supported by a documented family hardship. All owners must sign a recorded, notarized affidavit that the unit will not be leased, rented, or used as a short-term rental.
Septic compounds it. County OWTS regulations require a permit "for a change of use, or the expanded use of an OWTS where it has been determined that the existing OWTS is not sized to accommodate the expected additional hydraulic or organic load," and the definition of modification expressly includes added design flow from added bedrooms. Budget for an evaluation, possibly a new leach field. If your plan is rental income and your lot sits in Black Forest, Falcon or Peyton, the county rule ends it before cost enters the conversation.
Permits, and the soils letter that stops people at footer inspection
Permits for the city and the unincorporated county both run through Pikes Peak Regional Building Department. PPRBD's Residential Plan Review guide, revision dated 07/01/26, calls for a complete plan set with a scaled plot plan and IECC energy documentation. Then the line that catches homeowners: "Structures will be required to have a soils report and engineered foundation design at the time of first inspection." Those documents are not part of the plan review package. They must be on site when the inspector arrives for the footer, and with this much expansive claystone under the region, that is a real cost.
The money, including the charge most articles skip
Permit fees are the small number. PPRBD's fee schedule, keyed to 2025 ICC Valuation Data effective June 30, 2025, sets the building permit fee from a bracket table: $714 for the first $100,000 of valuation plus $4.00 per additional $1,000 in the $100,001 to $500,000 band. Plan examination adds 28% of that. Address verification is $30.
The larger number is the utility development charge, and I rarely see it in ADU articles. Colorado Springs Utilities publishes a Development Charges and Fees schedule with fees effective January 1, 2025. Single-family water charges run by lot size:
Lot size | Water development charge | Water resource fee |
|---|---|---|
Under 1,500 sq ft | $5,297 | $3,847 |
5,000 to 6,999 sq ft | $7,243 | $5,260 |
9,000 to 10,999 sq ft | $8,725 | $6,337 |
15,000 sq ft and up | $10,949 | $7,952 |
The same schedule lists a single-family wastewater development charge of $1,868 and a $585 inspection and connection fee for gas or underground electric. City code 14.8.107 sets the stormwater service fee at $5.00 per dwelling unit per month, effective July 1, 2018, so a second unit adds $60 a year on its own.
Here is my honest limit. That CSU schedule does not use the words accessory dwelling unit anywhere, and I could not find a published 2026 replacement. So I cannot tell you whether adding an ADU behind an already-metered house triggers a full second development charge, a partial one, or none. Ask CSU in writing before you commit. On a large lot the spread between zero and a full charge approaches $19,000, and anyone quoting a confident all-in number without that answer is estimating.
Renting it out, long term and short term
Long-term rental is fine, subject to the owner living on the property. Short term is a different story, and the code is blunt: "Where an ADU is constructed on a property, the principal structure, ADU, and any other building or structure on that property shall not be used as a short term rental." Build the ADU and you surrender short-term rental use of the whole parcel, house included. A property holding both a legally permitted ADU and a legally permitted short-term rental on or before June 30, 2025 may continue both as nonconforming uses under UDC 7.5.804.
What a lender and an appraiser will do with it
FHA Mortgagee Letter 2023-17, effective on issuance October 16, 2023, let ADU rental income count as effective income for the first time. With no rental history the lender uses 75% of the lesser of appraised fair market rent or the lease, that income cannot exceed 30% of total monthly effective income, and the file needs a Form 1004 appraisal, a Form 1007 rent schedule, and two months of PITI in reserves. Cash-out refinances are excluded. Fannie Mae expanded its own treatment, reported by the Appraisal Institute on October 17, 2025: one-unit principal residence, purchase and limited cash-out only, same 30% cap, one ADU, arriving in Desktop Underwriter 12.1 in the first quarter of 2026.
None of that means an appraiser hands you dollar-for-dollar credit for construction cost. An unpermitted unit is worse than neutral. It reads as an illegal second kitchen and complicates both appraisal and buyer financing at resale.
Running your own address in about fifteen minutes
- Confirm city or county. Look the parcel up on the El Paso County Assessor's parcel search at property.spatialest.com/co/elpaso for parcel number, legal description, year built and sales history. Limit: it is a tax record, not a zoning determination, and it will not say whether existing square footage was permitted.
- Pull the permit history. Search the address at pprbd.org. Permit and inspection search is free by address, which makes it the most useful public tool in this county. Limit: plan images for a property you do not own generally require a subscription starting around $20.
- Get the zoning in writing. The city publishes zoning through its mapping applications, and the Unified Development Code is free to read at American Legal Publishing's Colorado Springs code library. For unincorporated parcels, email the El Paso County Planner of the Day at [email protected]. A map layer is not a determination, so ask for the zone district and the ADU answer in an email you can keep.
- Read your covenants. UDC 7.3.304E states that "the provisions of this Subsection 7.3.304E do not supersede private covenants regarding ADUs." Your declaration is recorded with the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder.
Do those four before you pay for a design. In older in-town areas with deep lots the arithmetic often works, which is why I hear this question so often from buyers looking at Patty Jewett and the Old North End.
The parts I could not pin down
I could not reach coloradosprings.gov directly, so the city's ADU application page and its current application fee are unconfirmed here. The code says fees are "to be established by the City Council" and lets the Manager waive or modify them for low and moderate income applicants, deed-restricted affordable units, accessible units, or documented community housing need. I could not find the adopted dollar figures. I also found no published city amnesty program for units already built without permits, which is not proof none exists.
How I would approach a specific lot
Start with the two questions that end most projects. Is the parcel inside city limits, and is it inside the Wildland Urban Interface Overlay? A county parcel means no rentable unit. A WUI parcel means an interior conversion only.
If both clear, get the utility answer in writing before drawings. Price the soils report and the engineered foundation next, because that number does not shrink. Then ask a local appraiser what a permitted ADU has actually done to sale prices on comparable streets, rather than what one costs to build. Those are different numbers, and the gap decides whether this is an investment or a housing decision for a relative. Sometimes it pencils. Often the same money spent in the main house returns more, and new finished square footage gets picked up by the assessor, which I cover in what your property tax bill really says.
I'm Brandon Behr with the Behr & Behr Team at The Platinum Group, Realtors. Permits and zoning are the part of this business I enjoy most, and I would rather spend twenty minutes pulling your parcel's permit history than watch you find out at footer inspection.
This reflects published rules as of August 2026 and is general information, not legal, engineering, lending, or tax advice. I am a REALTOR®, not an attorney, a professional engineer, or a mortgage lender. Codes, fee schedules and utility development charges change, sometimes mid-year. Verify with the City of Colorado Springs Planning and Development, El Paso County Planning and Community Development, El Paso County Public Health, Pikes Peak Regional Building Department, and Colorado Springs Utilities before you spend money. The Behr & Behr Team supports Equal Housing Opportunity.
