Wichita would drop the public hearing for backyard apartments
Wichita would drop the public hearing for backyard apartments
2026-09-10 · Kansas · Regulation · Pending — not yet law
Wichita is close to removing the public hearing that has been a neighbourhood's only formal say over a backyard apartment, and no version of the draft mentions covenants. The reform is in progress, not adopted, and readers should treat it that way.1
Where the rules stand today
An accessory apartment in Wichita currently requires Conditional Use approval in the RR, SF-20, SF-10, SF-5, TF-3, MH and NO districts. Conditional Use means an application, notice, and a hearing at which neighbours and associations can appear.
What has been proposed, and when
In November 2025 city staff floated draft amendments that would move accessory apartments to an Administrative Permit or make them permitted outright. In March 2026 a committee recommended an Administrative Permit pathway for the SF-5 and TF-3 districts “with architectural standards,” located within the Established Central Area. In July 2026 staff clarified that accessory apartments “are to be subordinate to the Principal Dwelling Unit.”
An Administrative Permit is a staff decision. It has no hearing, and typically no individual mailed notice to neighbours.
Why this is very likely coming regardless
Because the state has already decided the substance. SB 418 requires that qualifying accessory dwelling units “shall be approved by-right, without the need for discretionary review or approval by planning commissions, zoning boards or other regulatory bodies,” with a deemed-approval clock running against the city.2
A conditional use process is discretionary review by a regulatory body. Wichita's reform is best read as the city bringing its own procedure into line with a state mandate it cannot decline.
The silence in the drafts
Nothing published on the city's accessory apartment page addresses deed restrictions, covenants or homeowners associations. That is not an oversight peculiar to Wichita — SB 418 itself assigns covenant enforcement to courts rather than to municipalities.
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