Santa Clara County launches Accessory Dwelling Unit website

Guides property owners in building an ADU.

County ADU website

Santa Clara County’s Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) website is now live at http://www.aduscc.org.

It offers free resources to help guide property owners through the process of building an ADU. An ADU is a secondary residential unit that includes permanent sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation facilities. ADUs can provide an affordable housing option, as well as supplemental income to the owner.

On the website, property owners can look at floorplans, hear from neighbors about what they built and download a free ADU Guidebook. The website also provides an overview of the ADU process and important items to consider, as well as an  ADU glossary and calculator.

Fall hikes

Bay Area Older Adults is hosting a few hikes for local residents to take in fall.

An Oct. 11 art and history walk at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga will wend gradually up to Lookout Point for a panoramic view of Silicon Valley. Along the way, hikers will learn about historic Villa Montalvo and end with an included picnic lunch. To register, visit https://www.bayareaolderadults.org/bao-hikes.

Also in Saratoga, a California and Chinese Pioneers History Day Trip on Oct. 17 will feature a history walk through old-growth redwoods and the afternoon exploring a traveling exhibit about early Chinese immigrants to California. For more details and to register, visit www.bayareaolderadults.org/BAO-October2023day-trip.

Learn about the mining of historic Almaden Quicksilver County Park on an Oct. 25 hike. This park is a national historic site because of its ruins from more than 130 years of mining. Hikers will visit the rotary furnace that produced more than a million flasks of mercury and hike down to English Camp for a picnic lunch, and an optional tour around the ruins. To register, visit https://www.bayareaolderadults.org/bao-hikes.