ADU Pass
Springfield
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Springfield, Delaware County, Pennsylvania navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 1 ZIP code.
Map
ADU details
ADU legality: unclear
Pennsylvania leaves ADU regulation to local municipalities under home-rule or Dillon-rule authority. Springfield permits ADUs subject to local conditions per its zoning ordinance.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 150 | $1,900 | $38,250 | $40,150 |
| 600 | 600 | $1,900 | $153,000 | $154,900 |
| midpoint | 525 | $1,900 | $133,875 | $135,775 |
| maximum | 900 | $1,900 | $229,500 | $231,400 |
Fee breakdown
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. Springfield 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.
Utilities
- Water: Springfield Water Utility · 30d connect · $4,500
- Sewer: Springfield Sewer / Wastewater · 30d connect · $5,500
- Electric: Springfield Electric Utility · 21d connect · $1,800
- Gas: Springfield 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
Pennsylvania 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: City of Springfield Municipal Code — Accessory Dwelling Units, adopted 2020-01-01, last amended 2024-04-01
- 2024-01-01 — City of Springfield ADU code refresh (city-ordinance)
Conforming local-code amendments aligning with current Pennsylvania accessory-dwelling framework.
Effect: Codified permissive ADU standards consistent with state law and local zoning.
Delaware County — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
Delaware County, PA (576,000 residents southwest of Philadelphia) does not exercise direct land-use authority over its 49 municipalities. Each (Upper Darby, Chester, Haverford, Springfield, Radnor, Marple, Tinicum, Aston, Newtown, Media, Swarthmore) sets its own ADU rules under the PA Municipalities Planning Code.
State-floor overlay: No PA statewide ADU preemption.
County regulatory overlays
Delaware 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 Delaware 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
Pennsylvania state — ADU law and programs
State ADU law
Pennsylvania has NOT enacted a statewide ADU preemption law. Under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (Act 247 of 1968, 53 P.S. §§10101 et seq.), local governments retain broad authority over zoning, including ADU permission, setbacks, parking, size limits, and owner-occupancy. ADU rules vary widely by township, borough, city, and county. One active bill in the 2025-2026 session, HB 2186 (chief sponsor Rep. John Inglis), would amend Title 53 of the Consolidated Statutes to provide for ADUs, but was laid on the table on 2026-04-13 after a Housing and Community Development Committee vote (reported as 19 yes, 7 no during committee action) and has not advanced to third consideration.
State financing programs
Pennsylvania does not operate an ADU-specific statewide loan, grant, or forgivable-loan program. The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) administers general first-time-homebuyer, down-payment-assistance, and purchase-plus-improvement programs that can apply to properties with ADUs when eligibility criteria are met, but none target ADU construction as a distinct product. Notably, PHFA's HFA Preferred conventional product explicitly excludes two-unit properties, which can complicate financing an owner-occupied primary home that has (or plans to add) an attached ADU depending on how the appraiser and investor classify the unit.
State housing programs
Pennsylvania does not run a state-level pre-approved-ADU-plan catalog, statewide impact-fee-waiver statute for ADUs, or streamlined-review mandate. State-level programs that touch ADU-adjacent policy are primarily coordinated through the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) and PHFA, and act by funding or assisting local jurisdictions rather than by preemption. Local ADU momentum — Pittsburgh's by-right ADU ordinance in designated zones and Philadelphia's 2020 zoning-code ADU provisions — is authorized under municipal authority granted by the Municipalities Planning Code (Act 247 of 1968), not by state mandate.
- Keystone Communities Program — DCED program that provides planning, design, and construction funding to municipalities for downtown revitalization, elm-street neighborhood improvement, facade grants, and blight remediation. Not ADU-specific. Participating municipalities can direct Keystone Communities funds toward housing-rehab and missing-middle projects where local policy supports ADUs.
- Pennsylvania Land Use Planning Assistance (PALUPA) / DCED Land Use Planning Technical Assistance — DCED and associated local-government-services staff provide model-ordinance drafting, zoning-code review, and planning technical assistance to municipalities interested in modernizing zoning (including ADU permission). Acts through local adoption rather than state preemption.
- Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (Act 247 of 1968) Model-Ordinance Guidance — The DCED-published Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code PDF and companion Planning Series documents include model language municipalities can adopt, including for accessory uses, home occupations, and mixed-use areas. Not a statewide ADU mandate; a guidance and boilerplate library that municipalities may or may not adopt.
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 Code
- 19064
Post Office
- 1138 Baltimore Pike, 19064