Grandma's house could move from over the river and through the woods to the backyard. A proposed ordinance to allow "granny pods," temporary housing structures for the elderly, in Northfield moved closer to becoming law last week.

Northfield News reported that the city's panning commission voted unanimously to recommend the ordinance to the Northfield City Council:

Legislation signed in May by Gov. Mark Dayton made it legal, unless a local government bans it, to allow temporary trailer-like homes to be placed on caregivers' land, even if zoning ordinances otherwise would not allow it. The thought process, according to the League of Minnesota Cities, is to provide transitional housing — up to 300 square feet — for seniors.

However, municipalities had the opportunity to opt out and almost all did before the Sept. 12 deadline. For city councils like Northfield's, the reasoning wasn't necessarily that the pods would be detrimental, but rather they preferred to keep local control on the topic. By opting out, the Northfield City Council opened up options to come up with its own rules on the matter.

Read much more at Northfield News.

Image via Tomas Quinones, Flickr, used under Creative Commons