SOUTHWICK — After four months of public hearings and dozens of revisions, the Planning Board approved a new bylaw mandated by the state that will allow, by right, the building of what is often called a mother-in-law suite or accessory dwelling unit.
“At the last Planning Board meeting we have an opportunity to review [the board’s attorney] responses to the attorney general’s comments [and] there were a few hanging items that we noted,” Town Planner Jon Goddard during the board’s meeting Tuesday night.
One of those two items was adding language to the definition of a “protected-use ADU,” which is a living space that is allowed “by right” by the state on the property of a primary dwelling.
The bylaw allows a homeowner in town who lives in the Residential 20 or 40 zoning districts to request permission to build or install a protected-use ADU in town and it cannot be denied unless it doesn’t follow the state-mandated regulations,
The regulations allow a protected-use ADU as a secondary residence located on the same property as a primary single-family home that can be built inside an existing house — like a basement conversion — can be attached as an addition, or completely detached as a separate structure like a converted garage.
It must also have separate cooking, sleeping, and sanitary facilities and cannot exceed half the gross floor area of the primary dwelling or 900 square feet, whichever is smaller, according to the law.
Garage conversions will not have to meet the 900-square-foot maximum.
And it must also meet four criteria for the town’s zoning enforcement officer to approve a building permit for a protected-use ADU, which are minimizing changes to the landscape, be compatible with the existing architectural style of the primary dwelling, have access to water and/or a septic system or sanitary sewer, and have adequate parking.
However, at the suggestion of the AG’s office, the board added that a person seeking to build a protected-use ADU doesn’t have to meet the criteria of a building project, not including single-family homes, that requires a traditional site plan review.
A site plan review process is comprehensive and includes providing details on landscape features, fencing, dimensions and elevations of the proposed structure, and even a traffic study.
The new language makes it clear that a protected-use ADU applicant isn’t required to submit a site plan and adds that they can ask the Planning Board to waive any of the requirements included in a traditional review.
Board Chair Jessica Ann Thornton admitted that including the language was confusing.
“This is just clarifying doubly that while we are referencing what we currently have in our bylaws under site plan review we understand will not touch certain parameters and leaving this right to waiver some of those requirements if they do not relate to the four areas we are allowed to review under state law,” Thornton said
Goddard called it an “escape hatch” so that no one is trapped into a requirement that is beyond what state law dictates.”
Thornton said the language didn’t have to be so “clunky” but our attorney is saying “better clunky and safe” than have the AG’s office reject it during its review process.
While getting approval for one protected-use ADU on a property with a single-family home is relatively straightforward, building a second ADU is another matter, which was the second item addressed by the board during its meeting.
To build a second, defined as a “local” ADU, the applicant must submit a site plan and request a special permit from the board.
It must also have at least one parking space for the number of bedrooms in the unit, designed to include adequate buffering or screening to mitigate unsightly visual impacts to adjacent properties, have adequate utilities, and the site plan must include access for emergency vehicles and services.
And like the protected-use ADU, the building must be compatible with the architecture of the primary residence.
If an applicant wants to build a protected-use ADU on a property with a structure that is considered pre-existing and nonconforming for its zoning district that is attached to the primary residence, the bylaw will require the Planning Board find that the structure is not substantially more detrimental than the pre-existing nonconforming structure than the existing nonconforming use to the neighborhood.
Another provision of the bylaw is that ADUs cannot be used as a short-term rental.
The bylaw also allows using modular and a manufactured housing unit if it is assembled and equipped with internal plumbing, electrical or similar systems, in compliance with the building and fire code, prior to movement to the site where it is placed on foundation and connected to external utilities.
The board approved sending the bylaw to the town attorney for a final check and it will appear as an article on the warrant for the May 20 Annual Town Meeting.
