What you need to know about adding an accessory dwelling unit to your home
What exactly is an ADU? Sometimes known as casitas, flats, or in-law additions, here’s what defines an accessory dwelling unit.
Gov. Maura Healey recently launched a new campaign to make it easier to build accessory dwelling units across Massachusetts in an effort to increase housing production and lower costs.
ADUs, also known as in-law apartments, are small residential living spaces that are located on the same lot as another home. Healey’s Affordable Homes Act allows ADUs to be built-by-right in single-family zoning districts statewide.
State law allows for some wiggle room for municipalities as long as municipalities follow local zoning laws.
The ordinance was recently before the New Bedford City Council for the third time due to a lapse between the previous and the most recent hearing date.
According to Assistant City Planner Michael McCarthy, New Bedford has an ADU ordinance that is on the books right now, but it is not in compliance with state regulations. It’s currently restricted to attached ADUs and single-family homes only.
He said the new state regulations apply to attached and detached homes in any zoning district that allows a single-family home in any lot that has an existing dwelling unit. The state defines a unit as any building that has one or more dwelling unit.
New Bedford originally had an ADU ordinance but has since developed another ordinance that mimics state law so that it is on the books in New Bedford.
Under state regulations, they have to allow ADUs in multi-family rear yards as a detached or converted garage or an addition to units in a multi-family dwelling.
Pursuing two ADU options
State law provides New Bedford with the option of capping ADUs at 900 square feet, and the city is allowed through a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals an ADU of up to 1,200 square feet.
The state law also gives municipalities the option to prohibit short-term rentals in ADUs with the need for permanent, year-round housing.
“We are taking that option, recognizing that there is a need for permanent year-round housing here so that if someone is going to construct an ADU, we want it be used to house somebody permanently, not as a vacation rental,” McCarthy said. “We’re mostly just bringing our ordinance in compliance with the state and taking those options when we can to exercise a little bit more local control.”
Only one unit per parcel is allowed. There is no cap on the number of units citywide.
Concerns over parking
Councilor Shawn Oliver asked if there was any consideration given to parking. McCarthy said if you are within half a mile from a bus or transit stop you can’t mandate an additional parking space for an ADU, but it does require one off-street parking space outside that half mile.
Oliver also asked about the enforcement of short-term rentals. McCarthy said it is prohibited, so inspectional services would be called upon for enforcement.
Councilor Shane Burgo said he’s excited to finally get this out of committee and approved given that it has been discussed as far back as 2022 when ADUs were being discussed.
“We as a city have been talking about ADUs forever, and it then came out in the Building New Bedford plan and we were excited then and nothing happened then,” he said.
Wary of enforcement
Councilor Joseph Lopes said it would be hard with the short-term rentals to enforce the rules considering that the building commissioner is looking at illegal basement, roof and attic apartments and ADUs will be hard to manage.
He said he wishes there could be a penalty for non-compliance, but the city solicitor has ruled that out.
“It will be the hardest thing to enforce for the building commissioner,” he said. “It’s part of an ordinance that has no teeth to adopt for that one unit.”
City residents in favor of ADUs
Spring Street resident Christian Gwozdz-Silveira said he is in favor of ADUs and he has been making presentations to well over 200 people on the SouthCoast and hasn’t had a single person say they want to put an Airbnb on their property.
“We’re obviously in a housing crisis, but people aren’t building these at a rate that the state thought they were going to get built,” he said. “One point that gets brought up is if everybody can build this in their own backyard, but it’s just not happening. The cost of it is substantial and we’re primarily seeing it with people who have older parents who want to downsize or have nowhere else to go and they don’t want to go to a nursing home.”
Mount Pleasant Street resident Audley Bodden said ADUs are great for a growing city like New Bedford because previous to this there has been no opportunity to add an extra bedroom or apartment and now the extra apartment can be added at a time when affordability is out of control.
“If we can add an extra room or an extra apartment for our growing teenagers or young adults, it’s a great thing for the city, and we need to understand that the space is already there,” he said. “It’s just making it happen. It will alleviate a lot of this affordability problem that we’re having when it comes to housing in New Bedford.”
Several other residents were recorded by name as being in favor of ADUs.
The ordinance was referred to the full City Council for adoption.
Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at kgallerani@gannett.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.