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stevenfrijoles t1_j50zc6s wrote

So, I live in an ADU in LA and honestly, I love it. I can rent a place that isn't an apartment but also is smaller than a "regular" home (since I don't need as much space) with all the privacy perks of a SFH.

Here in CA the biggest difference in residential areas is we have many more alleys between back yards. That means easy in/out access for ADU dwellers. it's a jersey thing! not to have alleys, it makes ADUs a little less convenient.

But in the balance I'd say they're a positive - more housing without resorting to big block-long apartment buildings. You look at the NYC commuter towns like Lyndhurst, all houses with backyard space that could be housing, if the homeowner wanted it to be. Yes it densifies the most in-demand towns but people are going to populate NJ regardless, and more options closer to work means that person in an ADU in Lyndhurst isn't living in Parsippany and clogging rt 80 every day.

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GERMAQ t1_j538ptl wrote

> it's a jersey thing! not to have alleys

Back alleys between blocks do exist in some places. LA was mostly developed with cars in mind- alleys take space that could be backyard if you didn't need a place for a car. NJ places that are post car were primarily set up as suburbs.

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stevenfrijoles t1_j53evqr wrote

Yeah for sure, i wasn't making a good/bad distinction, just an observation of one difference. Most of the places in jersey that do have alleys are probably too built up and maybe not relevant since that's not where the space for ADUs is

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