If the solutions were simple, there wouldn’t be problems.
This column is a companion to the WSBS ( 860AM, 94.1FM) radio show, It’s Not That Simple, on the air every other Friday at 9:05AM. Listen to the podcast here.
This is the first part in a series of columns that will look at proposals to alleviate the housing shortage in Great Barrington. Future columns will look into possible remedies that have been suggested here in the Berkshires and the rest of the country, as well as other ideas suggested by readers.
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Everyone in Berkshire County knows there is a housing crisis. We have done many shows and written many columns about the shortage of housing, the organizations working to create affordable housing, and the history of zoning and housing development in Great Barrington. Everyone agrees there is a problem and we don’t need to spend one more paragraph to say that, here in Berkshire County, there is a shortage of all types of housing with the exception of luxury homes. So we won’t. (Well, we just did, but no more.)
What to do about our housing shortage is where we start to disagree.
Proposals we will examine in future columns will included real estate tax abatements and reduced sewer fees for new construction, town financing to lower development costs, limits on short-term rentals, zoning changes to encourage density, programs to encourage the construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and a dedicated town staff person focused on housing development.
But first, we want to take a look at what has already been done. It turns out, quite a bit.
When we were at Town Meeting last Spring, a majority of us decided to spend tax money to create affordable housing. A lot of tax money. Over the past seven years, since voters adopted the Community Preservation Act, Town Meeting has granted nearly $2 million of Community Preservation Act dollars to produce 160 units of affordable housing. That’s a huge accomplishment and we should collectively pat ourselves on the back.
But there’s an indirect way the town has helped to spur housing development, and that’s through zoning. A super majority (two-thirds) of voters at Town Meeting is needed to change zoning. Over the past few years, the elected Planning Board has recommended changes to zoning specifically to open the door to development of more housing. The Planning Board is staffed by Assistant Town Manager/Director of Planning and Development Chris Rembold. We invited him on to talk about recent zoning changes and their intended impact on housing. (To view the Great Barrington Zoning Map, see below or click here.)
“Over the last 10 or so years, the Planning Board has been revising the old zoning regulations which were written in the 1960s. The economy, the housing market, family structures, the way people lived, the way they worked, where they worked, it was all different,” said Rembold. “Almost every year our proposed changes to Town Meeting start with: Create more housing opportunities.”
The other goal of zoning changes is to bring nonconforming uses into conformity. An example of a nonconforming property would be an existing use or structure that was legal when built, but changes in zoning would no longer allow. Nonconforming uses are, by law, allowed to continue, but complicated and expensive permitting is often required for even the simplest of changes, like fixing a falling down porch. Removing the nonconformity encourages owners to improve their property.
Here is a list of significant zoning changes approved by Town Meeting over the past 4 or 5 years. Not all of them have actually led to the creation of more housing. “Zoning unlocks the door,” said Rembold. “Somebody has to walk through it.” If it isn’t economically feasible, zoning won’t create housing.
MXD (Mixed Use)
This zoning district, roughly covering the triangle formed by Silver, Maple, and Main streets, was created to better reflect the existing conditions of housing, doctors’ and lawyers’ offices, and multi-family housing. It had been a commercial zone, allowing large retail and intense commercial development. That meant that most of the single-family homes, on lots of less than ½ acre, and also Beech Tree Commons, the largest multi-family development in town, were nonconforming. New single-family homes could be built only on parcels of ½ acre or larger, and there were very few of those available.
According to Rembold, “We’re not living in a static 1950s/1960s economy or housing market anymore. We need a mix of uses and more housing opportunities.” The MXD changes allow single- and multi-family housing to exist along with commercial development. A similar change was made in Housatonic Village, Stockbridge Road, and State Road districts.
State Road B2X Zone
This is another area which was historically business, but recent zoning changes will allow for more housing. The zone runs from the Great Bridge (also known as the Green Bridge, the Brown Bridge, or the Red Bridge depending on how long you’ve lived here) to Belcher Square.
The changes were designed to consider the existing patterns and improve upon them, making it a continuation of Main Street, with buildings closer to the road and parking behind the buildings, so the streetscape isn’t a sea of parking lots. It also allows more density and requires less parking than before. It is one of the densest areas in town, but the zoning didn’t reflect that.
All types of housing are now allowed in the district with the exception of subdivisions, and it allows more units on a small lot, by right. (By right means no special permitting is required. It eliminates the need for an expensive special permit process, as well as the risk of long delays due to court challenges.) We haven’t seen any housing development there yet, but we have seen some other proposed changes to buildings in keeping with the new plan. The Bookloft and a soon-to-open dermatology office are two examples.
Smart Growth Overlay District (SGOD)
An overlay district is a set of zoning regulations added to a zone, or several zones, which has different or additional regulations from the underlying zone. The Smart Growth Overlay District, with the ominous sounding acronym pronounced “S GOD,” is part of a state program that encourages multi-family and affordable housing, usually associated with walkability and increased density. Towns are encouraged by the state to create these districts to allow that development by right in areas that otherwise might not have allowed it, in exchange for affordable housing. Because there will be less oversight on these by right developments, the zoning is very detailed and specific.
Great Barrington voters created three SGODs: the Housatonic Mills, the Rising Mill, and South Main Street (across from Brookside Road) where the Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire is about to build 45 units of affordable housing.
Two-Family Housing
In order to differentiate between a house and a home, zoning nerds refer to dwelling units. Regular people might call a house with two separate residences a house, but in zoning that is two dwelling units. Dating back to colonial times, Americans have added dwellings and other buildings to their property as needs arose, creating multiple dwelling units. Regular people would call this a family compound. Twentieth Century zoning eliminated this possibility in most areas, limiting parcels to a single dwelling unit (house). This had a significant impact on housing availability and density, and encouraged suburban development patterns.
In Great Barrington, the possibility of placing two dwelling units on one lot was always available, but the rules for doing so were onerous. The biggest impediment was having to have twice the zoning district’s minimum lot size in order to build a second dwelling unit. In other words, if zoning called for a half acre to build a house, one needed an acre to add another dwelling unit, even if it was within the existing house. Despite this, there were plenty of these structures in town, most of them nonconforming.
The planning board recommended to Town Meeting that zoning ease the restriction and allow two-family development by right in all zoning districts. One could either divide (or build) a structure with two separate dwelling units, or build a second building on the property. Other land use restrictions still apply, like setbacks and lot coverage (how much of the lot can have buildings on it), so the zoning change allows more family density, not more building density.
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)
ADUs are smaller, separate dwelling units in addition to a larger dwelling unit on the same lot. By limiting the size, it limits the additional impact on the neighborhood. Fewer people, fewer cars, etc. ADUs are now also allowed by right in all districts. By allowing ADUs, zoning now allows three dwelling units on the same lot as long as one of them is smaller. There can be one, two, or three separate buildings, again, as long as they fit within the dimensional requirements for setbacks from the lot boundary and lot coverage.
Two related changes to zoning, allowing tiny houses and increasing the maximum size of ADUs from 650 to 900 square feet, further increased allowable housing options.
Another change from last year’s Town Meeting allows for separate ownership of each unit so that the financial burden of building an additional unit is not necessarily on the property owner.
Updating the B3
The B stands for business. This downtown district encompasses the Searles School, 100 Bridge St., the former Dolby Florist, and east of Main Street between Church and Bridge Streets. The zoning was created in the mid 2000s to diversify a previously industrial area, to encourage the development of large abandoned parcels, and to create affordable housing. It worked, sort of, at least for the larger sites. The Dolby site now has several single-family homes, 100 Bridge has 45 units of affordable housing with more on the way, and the old school is (still) on its way to becoming a hotel.
However, the planning board determined that the smaller lots were not developable because of open space, parking, and inclusionary housing requirements. So, in the interest of creating the opportunity for housing diversity, the regulations were adjusted to allow greater flexibility for small lots while keeping restrictions on the bigger ones. Other changes to the district that were made to encourage housing development include eliminating the need for special permits for multi-family or mixed use housing so they are now allowed by right, and reducing parking requirements in order to allow more housing units to fit on a given lot.
Nursing Homes
There are several nursing homes in Great Barrington and they are located within districts that do not allow multi-family housing, but these large buildings with ample parking would be likely sites for that use. This zoning addition allows for the conversion of nursing homes to multi-family housing, despite being sited in zones that would otherwise prohibit them. So far there has been one approved proposal to convert a former nursing home into many apartments. The development fell through, but a new proposal could still be considered for that site.
Going Forward
The cause of the housing crisis is that housing development and housing prices serve the free market, not necessarily the needs of communities. Especially in communities like ours, in close proximity to large population centers and significant wealth, people in the service industry will always lose in a bidding war. In order to have an impact on the housing problem, we need to encourage the creation of housing that is not subject to the real estate market.
Zoning is only one tool but it does not create anything except possibility; many would argue that its true purpose is to restrict. In the coming weeks, It’s Not That Simple will explore potential strategies and programs which could adjust some of the housing inequities we live with today.
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