WORCESTER—A proposed zoning ordinance amendment that would allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs), colloquially know as in-law apartments, with certain dimensions by right in Worcester is making its way through city boards and committees.
On Wednesday, Chief Development Officer Peter Dunn updated the city council’s Economic Development Committee on the proposal’s progress.
The proposed amendment went before the city’s planning board on Nov. 15, and the board voted five to zero to strongly endorse and favorably recommend it alongside certain suggested changes.
Those recommended changes include allowing ADUs in all zoning districts where there are existing residential units. The initial draft recommendations allowed for ADUs by right in all zoning districts except for manufacturing zones or the airport zone, Dunn said.
The planning board also recommended eliminating the 50 percent of gross floor area size cap on the ADUs in favor of a 900 square foot limit, which Dunn said he thinks makes sense.
The final recommendation is to remove an owner occupancy requirement that the draft recommendations include. The purpose of limiting it to owner occupancy was to encourage homeownership and mitigate the potential increase in activity from investors in the market who don’t intend to live in the units.
The board understood the intent, according to Dunn, but questioned enforceability and what would happen if an owner decided to later move out of the unit.
“What happens if there’s a neighbor complaint that the owner is no longer living there? What would we do to enforce that and we wouldn’t certainly want to evict anybody, but then what would the option be to bring that property back into compliance?” Dunn explained.
The planning board agreed with the administration’s recommendation that there not be a familial requirement for the ADUs because it would make it unnecessarily restrictive and also difficult to enforcement, according to Dunn.
One of the reasons Dunn’s office is recommending allowing ADUs by right is to reduce cost, time, and uncertainty for the person trying to create the ADU and to not bog down city staff with having to review applications for special permit discretionary approvals with the planning board, according to Dunn.
Allowing ADUs by right is one tool City Manager Eric Batista’s office has suggested to address the city’s housing crisis.
The Economic Development Committee voted unanimously to recommend the approval of the proposed ordinance with the suggested changes from the Planning Board and clarifications from the law department. The full city council still needs to approve the ordinance amendment before it can go into effect.
The city council is set to discuss the committee’s recommendation at its meeting Tuesday.
Kiernan Dunlop is an award-winning journalist who has spent the past five years reporting in Worcester, New Bedford and Antigua and Barbuda. She’s been published in Bloomberg, USA Today, Canary Media, MassLive, and the New Bedford Standard Times, among other outlets. She can be contacted at kdunlop@theworcesterguardian.org
