Dennis Select Board, Planning Board approve ADU bylaw for town meeting warrant
DENNIS — The Select Board and Planning Board voted unanimously on Monday and Tuesday to send proposed changes to Dennis' bylaws concerning accessory dwelling units to the Oct. 25 special Town Meeting.
Accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, are self-contained apartment-style dwellings built on the same lot as a primary residence.
The region is struggling with a housing crisis, Cape housing advocates have said, and ADUs could be part of the solution to the lack of long-term rental stock on Cape Cod,
More: Ready, set, bid! Cash, no contingencies, and escalator clauses more common in Cape home sales
ADU bylaws vary from town to town, but Dennis is one of three towns on Cape Cod without an ADU bylaw.
This is where the town's Zoning Bylaw Study Committee came in 2½ years ago, meeting once a month to comb through ADU regulations from other Cape towns, talking with housing and construction experts and gathering public comments to create ADU regulations for Dennis.
"The members of this committee really represent decades of serving this town," member Carlyn Carey said at Monday's planning board meeting. "Our goal was to find an ADU bylaw containing provisions that would have some sort of consensus and garner support at town meeting."
Here's what the proposed Dennis ADU bylaw includes
In the proposed changes, the maximum size of an ADU is 800 square feet, or 40% of the total living area of the main residence. ADUs can only be built on lots that are a minimum 15,000 square feet, and the number of bedrooms in any one ADU is capped at two.
The owner of the main residence must live either in the residence or the ADU year-round, and ADU leases must last a minimum of 12 months. Owners cannot sell the ADU separately from the main residence, and the number of ADU permits allowed by Dennis per year will be capped at nine so the town can study the bylaw's effects.
The committee included that the nine-ADU permits cap will phase out without any town meeting action by Dec. 31, 2027.
Questions, concerns remain about Dennis ADU bylaw
Although the Planning Board voted unanimously on Monday to send the bylaw changes to the Select Board for approval on Tuesday, questions and concerns remained about the proposed changes, especially around the sunset clause built into the permit cap phaseout.
Planning Board member Rick Hamlin voiced concerns that if the nine-permit cap is phased out without needing any town meeting action, the town will be flooded with ADU applications.
"If you have nine affordable housing units and it's helping the town, then allow the rollover, and still revisit it if necessary," he said. "But I don't like it expiring without anything further."
Town Planner Daniel Fortier, who has been working closely with the study committee on the proposed changes, said they included the clause because a previous Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision ruled limited growth limitations for ADUs — like a nine-permit annual cap — are not legal, which is why a phase-out on the cap is included in the bylaw.
"Towns can extend them," Fortier said, "but they need to have just cause to extend it."
Board member Brad Bishop echoed Hamlin's concerns but maintained it was more important to get the long-awaited bylaw changes approved for town meeting.
"My understanding is that many of the towns on the Cape have ADU bylaws in place, and haven't produced even double digits of ADUs," he said. "So I'm willing to put this out there and find out in a few years, and if that's our problem, people banging on the door asking for more, we can change it."
How will the Dennis ADU regulations be enforced?
Questions around the enforcement of the ADU regulations were discussed at Monday's meeting as well.
"Once the special permit is granted, where is the supervision and enforcement?" resident Katherine Delehaunty asked. "If someone lives in Florida for four months, do they have to stay home? Are they going to be able to build an ADU? I do worry that once someone has a permit, who is going to enforce these requirements?"
Study committee member Henry Kelly said the application process for an ADU is thorough: the owner of the primary residence who is interested in building an ADU will be required to submit a notarized affidavit to the building commissioner verifying continued occupancy of the primary residence for at least six months before the application.
Apartments for rent on Cape Cod?: Some towns have more to offer, local housing experts say
The unit leased will also have to maintain a permit with the Board of Health, he said.
"The town would know that the owner (of the primary residence) is committed that one of the units be his own principal residence. If he wants to go to Florida, he can go to Florida, but he can't live in Florida most of the time," Kelly said. "This isn't word of mouth, pat on the back, wink wink. This is the real deal."
"There are parts of this I don't love, there are parts of it that are fabulous," Bishop said, "But we need to get this out there and we need to support this at town meeting."
Planning Board Chairman Paul McCormick Jr. agreed.
"I agree with the comments here and I think it’s time this went to town meeting," he said at Monday's meeting. "I think we have a very good bylaw here.”
Dennis Select Board gives the green light to ADU bylaw?
Carey spoke to the Select Board at its Tuesday meeting, walking the board through the small changes made to the bylaw since the Study Committee presented the final version to the board on Aug. 23.
No further comment was made by the board, and they voted unanimously to put the changes on the town meeting warrant.
Dennis' special town meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Nathaniel Wixon School. For more information, visit the town clerk's website at: www.town.dennis.ma.us/town-clerk.
Contact Sarah Carlon at scarlon@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @sarcarlon.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Dennis Select Board sends ADU bylaw proposal to October town meeting
