By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The Planning Board voted 4-0 to recommend two warrant articles associated with updating the town’s Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) Bylaw during a recent public hearing.
The two ADU Bylaw articles are headed to Fall Town Meeting on Monday, Oct. 27, which will take place at 7 p.m. in the Lynnfield Middle School auditorium. A quorum of 175 voters is needed for Fall Town Meeting to occur.
Planning Board Chair Page Wilkins said Articles 7 and 8 seek to replace the town’s existing ADU Bylaw. While the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) will no longer be required to issue Special Permits for ADUs, the proposed new bylaw will allow the ZBA to review ADUs as part of the Site Plan Approval process.
Wilkins recalled that Gov. Maura Healey signed the $5.1 billion Affordable Homes Act into law last year, which now allows ADUs by right in single-family zoning districts across the state.
“That went into effect on Feb. 2, 2025,” said Wilkins. “Our bylaw is overly restrictive and basically not in effect anymore. We had to update it so it would be in compliance with the new law. There were certain limitations and guardrails that we could put up as well as some oversight by the Zoning Board, the Building Department and the Health Department to manage the impact on the environment, neighbors and utilities.”
Planning Board member Kate Flaws agreed.
“The state law gives property owners more control over what they can do with their own property,” said Flaws. “If people care about individual property owner rights, this is positive. It will let people make a space for family members to live.”
Wilkins, Planning and Conservation Director Emilie Cademartori, Town Counsel Tom Mullen, Building Inspector Joe O’Callaghan, Health Director Coral Hope and ZBA Chair Anthony Moccia worked on creating the revised ADU Bylaw.
“The intent was not to limit things,” said Cademartori. “It is obviously a by right use under state law. The idea of what we are proposing is an opportunity to make sure that if someone chooses to do this, it does not have an undo impact on a neighbor, on drainage or anything else. It is an opportunity to make sure the septic system has the capacity. It will allow the water districts to make sure the water line is adequate for the increased flow. It’s an adequacy of utilities, protection of the environment and protection of neighborhoods.”
Flaws said Fire Chief/Emergency Management Director Glenn Davis has wanted the town to update the ADU Bylaw “for quite awhile.”
Cademartori said Flaws was correct.
“Because it will go to the Zoning Board as proposed here for Site Plan Approval, the fire chief or fire prevention officer can look at it,” said Cademartori. “If it is a large property and they are proposing a long driveway to access a new accessory building at the rear of the lot, the Fire Department might have concerns about the distance from the hydrant on the street.”
Cademartori said the proposed bylaw would give local officials more oversight over proposed ADUs.
“It’s not meant to be punitive,” said Cademartori. “It’s intended to have an overall better result for any resident who wants to do this for all involved.”
Cademartori said the proposed bylaw’s language states that accessory dwelling units will be required to “not have a gross floor area of more than 900-square-feet or one-half the gross floor area of the principal dwelling.”
In response to a question from Planning Board member Ed Champy, Wilkins said the proposed bylaw stipulates that accessory dwelling units can be either “attached or detached.”
“Our current bylaw is only attached, and could only have a family member,” said Wilkins. “When that family member moved out or when they sold the house, they had to pull out the kitchen from the ADU. It was kind of an archaic way to do it.”
Wilkins said the proposed bylaw will only allow property owners to have one ADU on their lot.
“There is no Special Permit process for a second,” said Wilkins. “Town counsel was able to help us clarify how the current ADUs will be brought into the mix. Those are basically grandfathered in. If you had gotten a Special Permit already and it is in compliance, that becomes your as of right ADU.”
Cademartori said the proposed ADU Bylaw will allow property owners to rent ADUs.
“If it was permitted and your mother used to live there and your mother is no longer living there, it becomes a unit that could be rented out to someone else if you so chose as long as it is code compliant,” said Cademartori.
Cademartori said the proposed bylaw will require ADU applicants to submit a Site Plan, floor plans, utilities information, grading information and septic system capacity information.
“It gives the Board of Health the right to see the floor plan of your existing residence to make sure the bedroom count and room count all line up because sometimes what someone’s property record card says isn’t necessary on the ground,” said Cademartori. “It is really intended to be sure in that instance that septic system has the capacity to take an additional unit and an additional residence.”
Cademartori noted that there are homes located in Limited Business Districts in town.
“That means you can have an ADU in a Limited Business District,” said Cademartori.
Cademartori said the proposed bylaw will prohibit property owners from using ADUs as short-term rentals.
“That is a code standard in the town now,” said Cademartori.
Cademartori said proposed bylaw seeks to ensure that ADUs will have “all of the setbacks that the principal dwelling must meet.” She said exterior stairwells will be required to be constructed at the rear of an accessory dwelling unit.
“It has to be an exterior stairwell,” said Cademartori. “It won’t be on the front or side. It has to be at the rear of the building so it doesn’t change the character of a single-family home.”
Cademartori said the proposed ADU Bylaw “requires one off-street parking space available for the unit.”
“That is also allowed by the state statute,” said Cademartori. “It is not a separate driveway. It is to use the existing driveway on the property unless you apply for a curb cut and a second driveway through other means.”
Cademartori said proposed ADUs will require property owners to get a Tree Preservation Bylaw permit from the Planning Board because “it is a new dwelling.”
“It does trigger the Tree Bylaw,” said Cademartori.
Cademartori said the proposed bylaw will require ADUs to be owner-occupied.
“It’s not a condo or a multifamily,” said Cademartori. “It’s the same ownership.”
Cademartori said during a recent Select Board meeting that Article 9 seeks to add the words “or accessory structure” because Section 11.5 of the Zoning Bylaw has a “little tiny exemption for sheds.”
“Little tiny sheds less than 150-square-feet can be five-feet or 10-feet from your line,” said Cademartori. “If we didn’t specifically define that shed as being just a shed and not just an accessory structure, someone could build their ADU that close. We don’t want that.”
During the Planning Board meeting, Cademartori said the Affordable Homes Act allows the town to have “a certain amount of Site Plan oversight.” She said the law seeks to ensure municipal officials around the state don’t “overstep our bounds and make it overly burdensome for the homeowner to get the permit.”
“There were a lot of rules from the state about what we could or couldn’t do,” said Cademartori. “The gut reaction was to put more rules on because it felt new or different, but in the end, we just wanted to apply reasonable rules to allow the use to occur but without necessary harm to the neighbors or the environment. That is the intent of zoning.”
There were no residents who weighed in on the proposed ADU Bylaw during the Planning Board’s public hearing.
After the discussion, Wilkins, Champy, Flaws and Planning Board member Brian Charville voted to recommend Articles 7 and 8. Planning Board Vice Chair Amy MacNulty was not present at the meeting.