ADU Pass
Kansas City
Jackson County portion
Also in: Clay County · No County · Platte County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 29 ZIP codes.
Map
ADU details
ADU legality: unclear
Missouri leaves ADU regulation to local municipalities under home-rule or Dillon-rule authority. Kansas City permits ADUs subject to local conditions per its zoning ordinance.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 150 | $1,700 | $36,750 | $38,450 |
| 600 | 600 | $1,700 | $147,000 | $148,700 |
| midpoint | 525 | $1,700 | $128,625 | $130,325 |
| maximum | 900 | $1,700 | $220,500 | $222,200 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-04)
Permitting process
- Chapter 88 zoning conformance check (~4d)
Confirm zoning district (R-2.5 / R-5 / R-6 / R-7.5 / R-10 / R-15 / R-37.5 / R-80) and the parcel-specific ADU criteria in Chapter 88 (88-300 Use Regulations + 88-305 Accessory Uses); Plaza, Westport, and historic-overlay parcels also screen against the IB121 zoning-requirements bulletin. - Compass KC project intake (~1d)
Open a residential building permit project on Compass KC (kcmo.gov navid 256). Upload zoning narrative, site plan, floor plan, elevations, IRC-compliant structural details, and Chapter 18 energy-code documentation. - Plans Review concurrent (Building, Zoning, Fire, MEP) (~35d)
City Planning & Development plan-reviewers run concurrent zoning (Chapter 88) and building (Chapter 18) review; KCFD Fire Marshal review for life-safety; Plans Review or Permit Divisions reachable at (816) 513-1500. - Address corrections cycle (~21d)
Typical 2-3 correction cycles for ADU projects: zoning narrative tweaks, structural callouts, energy-code path documentation. Corrections returned through Compass KC. - Permit issuance and trade permits (~3d)
Issue residential building permit; pull electrical, plumbing, and mechanical sub-permits separately under the city's three-trade structure (e/p/m permits page). - Inspection sequence to final (~80d)
Inspections requested through Compass KC: footing, foundation, rough framing, rough MEP, insulation, drywall nail, and final building plus separate trade finals. - Certificate of Occupancy (~7d)
Final building C of O issues after all trades pass; rental registration with KCMO Healthy Homes / Rental Inspection Program required before lease-up.
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental of ADU generally permitted; landlord-tenant law and any city rental-registration ordinance apply.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions STR rules vary by city. Kansas City regulates STRs separately from ADU permitting; check local STR ordinance and HOA covenants.
- Office rental: with-restrictions Detached office rental requires home occupation permit or rezoning.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted with restrictions on signage and customer traffic.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist studio is a permitted accessory use.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Limited urban agriculture permitted in residential zones; livestock varies by district.
- Relative support: yes Family-occupancy ADU explicitly permitted in single-family zones.
Contacts
Staff: Plans Review and Permit Divisions (Plans review intake / Compass KC support), Building & Development Code (Chapter 18 administration), Kansas City Fire Department - Fire Marshal (Fire & Life Safety Plan Review)
Utilities
- Water: Kansas City Water Utility · 30d connect · $4,500
- Sewer: Kansas City Sewer / Wastewater · 30d connect · $5,500
- Electric: Kansas City Electric Utility · 21d connect · $1,800
- Gas: Kansas City Gas Utility · 30d connect · $1,500
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 7mo · typical 10mo · worst 16mo
Financing
State ADU loans:
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Missouri has no HOA-ADU preemption; HOA covenants restricting ADUs are enforceable.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: Kansas City Zoning & Development Code, Chapter 88 (incl. 88-305 Accessory Uses & Structures), adopted 2010-09-02, last amended 2024-06-01
- 2010-09-02 — Kansas City Zoning & Development Code (Chapter 88) effective (city-ordinance)
Kansas City adopted Chapter 88, a unified Zoning and Development Code consolidating all land-development regulations into a single document; ADU framework lives in the 88-300 Use-Regulations series.
Effect: Created the regulatory home for ADUs. Section 88-305 (Accessory Uses and Structures) supplies the on-lot accessory standards, and the Chapter 88 ADU rules collectively reversed roughly 60 years of zoning that had banned secondary dwelling units. - 2018-01-01 — Building & Energy Code Chapter 18 alignment (city-ordinance)
City Planning & Development administers Chapter 18 (Building and Energy Code) alongside Chapter 88 zoning; ADU construction must comply with Chapter 18 in addition to satisfying Chapter 88 zoning standards.
Effect: Established the dual-chapter pathway: zoning conformance under 88, structure & life-safety under 18; both must clear before a residential building permit issues. - 2022-01-01 — Compass KC online plan and permitting services (city-ordinance)
Kansas City brought residential and commercial permitting onto Compass KC, the city's online plan and permitting services platform, replacing legacy paper-counter workflows.
Effect: All new ADU permits flow through Compass KC; Permits Division at City Hall 5th floor (414 E. 12th St.) is now back-up rather than the primary intake channel. - 2024-06-01 — MARC ADU ordinance reference set published (city-ordinance)
Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) published Kansas City's ADU ordinance into a regional reference library, alongside neighboring jurisdictions, as part of a regional ADU promotion effort.
Effect: Made the operative ordinance text easily comparable across the KC metro and reinforced KCMO's ADU framework as the metro standard.
Jackson County — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
Jackson County, MO (716,000 residents including Kansas City - distinct from Jackson County, MS and Jackson County, OR) administers a county zoning ordinance for unincorporated territory. Most of the county is incorporated by Kansas City (the largest part of the city is in Jackson County), Independence, Lee's Summit, Blue Springs, Raytown, Grandview, Belton-portion, Sugar Creek.
State-floor overlay: No MO statewide ADU preemption.
County regulatory overlays
Jackson County administers flood-hazard, and (where mapped) coastal, wildland-fire, historic, and airport overlays that shape ADU project feasibility. The most consistent overlay across the county is FEMA NFIP floodplain regulation; other overlays apply to specific geographies inside the county.
- FEMA NFIP Special Flood Hazard Areas in Jackson County — A new ADU in a mapped SFHA must be elevated to or above the Base Flood Elevation; cost impact on the project is often material.
- Historic districts and individually-listed historic resources
County permitting (unincorporated parcels)
Jackson County issues building permits for parcels in unincorporated territory through its development services / planning department, with separate review tracks for zoning conformance, building-code compliance, on-site sewage where applicable, floodplain compliance, and addressing. Inside incorporated municipalities, city departments handle their own permits; the county's authority is geographically limited to unincorporated territory. An ADU permit application is typically processed as a residential building permit with a zoning verification step against the county's ordinance for the parcel's zoning district.
Missouri state — ADU law and programs
State financing programs
Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC), the state housing finance agency under the Department of Economic Development, does not operate an ADU-specific loan or grant product as of 2026-04-26. Construction or rehab of an ADU on a primary residence may be financed indirectly through MHDC's First Place Program (first-time-homebuyer mortgage with below-market rate) or Next Step Program (mortgage paired with a forgivable second of up to 4% of loan amount). Both are mortgage-purchase products and require the property to be the borrower's primary residence; an existing ADU on the property is permitted under standard agency guidelines. MHDC also administers Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, the Affordable Housing Assistance Program (AHAP) tax credit, and federal HOME funds — none of which is a homeowner-facing ADU instrument.
Federal (United States) — ADU-relevant rules and programs
Federal ADU law
The United States has no federal statute that directly regulates accessory dwelling unit entitlement or design. Land-use authority over ADUs resides with states and local governments under the traditional police power. Federal engagement is limited to financing (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA), flood insurance (FEMA/NFIP), and discretionary housing programs (HUD), which are recorded in sibling sections of this file.
Federal financing programs
Federal housing-finance agencies and GSEs set nationwide underwriting rules that govern whether an ADU can be financed, appraised, and counted toward mortgage qualifying income. The relevant actors are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA (HUD), VA, and USDA Rural Development.
Federal tax credits
There is no ADU-specific federal tax credit. ADUs may incidentally qualify for existing federal energy-efficiency and clean-energy tax credits when the ADU construction includes qualifying measures.
Federal housing programs
HUD administers several discretionary programs that can fund ADU-related activity at the grantee's election, but none is an ADU-specific program.
ZIP Codes
- 64102
- 64105
- 64106
- 64108
- 64109
- 64110
- 64111
- 64112
- 64113
- 64114
- 64120
- 64123
- 64124
- 64125
- 64126
- 64127
- 64128
- 64129
- 64130
- 64131
- 64132
- 64134
- 64137
- 64138
- 64139
- 64145
- 64146
- 64147
- 64149
Post Office
- 10 E 135th St, 64145
- 108 W 63rd St, 64113
- 119 W Gregory Blvd, 64114
- 1740 Universal Ave, 64120
- 200 Westport Rd, 64111
- 2201 E Truman Rd, 64127
- 300 W Pershing Rd, 64108
- 3050 Prospect Ave, 64128
- 4320 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, 64130
- 5824 E Truman Rd, 64126
- 6000 Wilson Ave, 64123
- 601 E 12th St, 64106
- 6921 E 111th St, 64134
- 7420 Troost Ave, 64131
- 8800 Raytown Rd, 64138