By Adam Swift
A town council subcommittee will soon begin discussion of a new accessory dwelling unit (ADU) ordinance for the town.
A recent state law allows ADUS, sometimes known as in-law apartments, under 900 square feet to be built by-right in single-family zoning districts. The move was part of the Healey administration’s efforts to increase housing stock and production in the state.
At last week’s town council meeting, Town Attorney Jim Cipoletta said the town has been tracking the ADU regulations at the state level and has had its eyes on it from early in the process.
“The way I look at it is we have the authority to write our own ordinance,” said Cipoletta. “It needs to comply with the statute, the statute is a law, it’s not a regulation and it’s not guidelines.”
Cipoletta said the town is still working on its ordinance because he said there is still more input needed from those who are going to be charged with issuing permits for ADUs and enforcing the ordinance.
“We’ve put together something for submission to the council to look at by the subcommittee … (you) can look at what parts you want and what you don’t,” Cipoletta said. “We tried to stay as close to the statutory requirements as we could. Any situations where there were grey areas, we took it to the benefit of the town.”
Cipoletta said the town ordinance will lean on site plan review to make sure any proposed ADUs comply with state, health, fire, and building codes, as well as making sure that they are appropriate for the part of the principal dwelling where they are proposed.
He said the town also wants to ensure that any ADU is hooked up to town water and sewer if it is in an outbuilding such as a garage or barn.
“This is not going to be an easy challenge for the subcommittee when you start doing this,” said Cipoletta. “We are looking at this a couple of times a week, and we are corresponding with other cities and towns who had (ADU ordinances) before this law was enabled and now have to change their laws to this regulation to see how they are doing.”
Councilor Suzanne Swope asked about the impact of the ADU ordinance on parking.
Cipoletta said the town is looking to make the ordinance as restrictive as it can when it comes to parking, including making sure parking is on the side of buildings, not the front, and that anyone requesting an ADU is parking compliant for the principal dwelling.
Councilor Joseph Aiello agreed that the ordinance will be a lot of work in subcommittee.
“When it comes to ADUs, we should have a discussion of goals; do we want additional development or do we try to make restrictions as the law allows?” he said, adding that there should be some policy guidance for the subcommittee.