GREENFIELD — The Planning Board is sending a recommendation to City Council asking that it return to requiring a special permit for residents to build detached accessory dwelling units, better known as ADUs or in-law apartments.
The board voted unanimously Thursday night to not only ask City Council to reverse its May vote to allow detached ADUs by right, but to decide if the Planning Board or Zoning Board of Appeals should be the review board that would issue a special permit for projects.
It is also sending a negative recommendation for a minimum lot size — it’s currently ¾ acres, and some residents have asked that the city increase the minimum size. Instead, the permitting authority would decide whether a lot is big enough for what is being proposed.
Greenfield resident Al Norman and 49 other residents signed a petition in August asking City Council to once again require a special permit for such a project.
Planning Board Chair Charles Roberts said during the virtual meeting Thursday that he has looked at the regulations in neighboring communities like Northampton, Easthampton and others, and all require detached ADUs to have a special permit.
“I’d like to see consistency,” he said. “ADUs are a great opportunity for residents, but I think (Greenfield) should maintain requiring a special permit for detached ADUs.”
Fellow board member George Touloumtzis said he hasn’t heard any compelling arguments for allowing ADUs by right, but he has heard plenty for requiring a special permit.
“Requiring a special permit is a key issue,” he said. “It’s so essential for building a detached ADU to be a special permit process.”
Roberts said he doesn’t believe ADUs will be money-makers, but instead will be a good way for people to help keep young or senior family members close while allowing them some independence.
“I don’t think we should increase the minimum lot size either,” Roberts noted. “If we were to do so, we’d rule out the majority of lots.”
Board member Jamie Pottern said she’d like to see the Planning Board be the one reviewing the projects and issuing the special permits.
“It was our ordinance and it was taken away,” she said.
After voting, Roberts suggested that one of the Planning Board’s members attend City Council’s November meeting to discuss the details of its recommendation.
Roberts, Pottern, Touloumtzis and alternates Mark Maloni and Amy McMahan attended the meeting.
When councilors voted to allow ADUs by right, most said they believe the ordinance will be used simply as a way to keep an aging parent or child with disabilities close by, allowing them independence while having family near them, while Norman and petitioners believe it will overcrowd neighborhoods.
In August 2016, the council passed an ADU ordinance that made it legal for residents to build up to 900-square-foot apartments either inside existing owner-occupied homes as additions, as detached structures or inside existing detached structures, such as garages or carriage houses. However, they needed a special permit to do so, which allowed abutters an opportunity to voice their concerns.
City Council Vice President Otis Wheeler argued there are enough checks and balances to keep ADUs from creating an overcrowding problem, and during a site plan review by the Planning Board, members will consider privacy and how an ADU might adversely affect an abutter.
Earlier this month, the City Council’s Economic Development Committee held a joint public hearing with the Planning Board on the matter. The Economic Development Committee has decided to send a recommendation to keep the ordinance as it was voted by the full council in the spring.
City Council will meet virtually on Nov. 18, at 7 p.m
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.