GREENFIELD — Town Council will vote today whether to allow in-law apartments in town.
The council will also consider the mayor’s proposal to pay his new municipal internet manager $150,000 a year.
Both agenda items are expected to generate significant discussion during the meeting.
The proposed Accessory Dwelling Unit Ordinance would allow apartments to be built either inside existing owner-occupied homes, as additions, as new detached structures or inside existing detached structures, like garages or carriage houses. The Planning Board withdrew its original proposal in April 2015 to give members time to do more research after the ordinance proved to be controversial.
The Economic Development Committee made several changes to the proposal, including increasing the maximum dwelling size from 800 square feet to 900 square feet, or one-third of the total gross floor area of the single-family home, whichever is greater, in order to be compatible with state law. The committee also added a line saying the beneficiary of the owner of the home may assume the unit.
“Basically if you moved into a home that you got through will or through a trust or something, you would not be able to use the ADU, which was completely foolish,” Town Council President Brickett Allis said of the previous version.
He added the changes the Economic Development Committee made to the proposed ordinance seem to address most councilors’ concerns, and he does not think it will have difficulty passing.
“The public at large who I’ve heard from want to allow ADUs,” Allis said.
Councilors will also vote on an employment contract for Daniel Kelley, who was appointed by Mayor William Martin last month as general manager of Greenfield Community Energy and Technology, the town-owned service that will eventually provide low-cost internet, telephone and possibly television services to all residents and businesses in town.
Martin said it will be up to the council to determine Kelley’s term and salary, but said he’s requested councilors approve a five-year term with an annual salary of $150,000, based on research he’s done about similar positions.
Allis said he’s expecting the contract to generate the most discussion during the meeting.
“(It) will probably be a little more dicey because it’s a really long contract for a brand new department and there are some concerns over what search criteria were used to pick the person they picked, and the amount of money we’re spending on it. I anticipate a lot of questions,” he said. “It may be tabled, I don’t know.”
Other items on the council agenda include minor amendments to the town’s Wetlands Ordinance intended to clean up and clarify some language, as well as a vote on the name of the new Senior/Community Center. The council will decide whether to approve a request to name the building the John A. Zon Jr. Community Center, after a man Council Vice President Isaac Mass called “a tireless advocate for seniors, veterans and young people in Greenfield.”
The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the GCTV-15 studio, 393 Main St.