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West Stockbridge Planning Board takes accessory dwelling unit draft bylaw to the next step

The Select Board will review the proposal before remanding it back to the Planning Board for a public hearing.

West Stockbridge — Following a halt to its draft of an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) bylaw this summer, the West Stockbridge Planning Board unanimously approved moving forward with its proposal on January 22, sending the document to the Select Board to review and remand back to its dais for a public hearing.

The sideways process was the result of a new Affordable Homes Act signed into law in August, legislation intended to provide more than 65,000 homes within the Commonwealth by 2029. Aiming to tackle rising housing costs, the law denies municipalities the ability to unreasonably restrict ADUs, or in-law apartments either attached or detached from a family home such as a backyard cottage or basement unit. The Planning Board deferred passing a local proposal until the state legislation was better defined. That statewide mandate goes into effect February 2.

The draft bylaw defines an ADU as “a self-contained unit” on the same lot as the main home but with a separate entrance. In accordance with the new state legislation, an ADU can be no larger than half the gross floor area of the primary house or 900 square feet, whichever is smaller. ADUs greater than 900 square feet require a special permit but must be sized and scaled as “appropriate to the neighborhood” and meet the other zoning requirements. However, there is no minimum size for an ADU.

Planning Board Chair Dana Bixby provided an example of how this new bylaw will be deployed. In the case of a 1,600-square-foot house, half of that square footage is 800 square feet, limiting an ADU on the tract to 800 square feet.

ADUs won’t be restricted to just single-family residences but are allowable in two- and three-family houses “or any other form of residential multiple dwelling,” Bixby said, adding that the town doesn’t have multiple apartment-type property configurations within its borders.

Given the February 2 deadline for the Commonwealth legislation to take effect, the local zoning bylaw will be inconsistent with that legislation until West Stockbridge’s proposal is ratified. According to Bixby, if an applicant requested a building permit for an ADU in the town after that date, “the building inspector would be obliged to issue the permit” and state law would override the local provision.

At the meeting, board members discussed draft zoning changes related to short-term rentals (STRs), or units rented for 30 days or less. Currently, West Stockbridge zoning regulations don’t have a category for STRs.

Following the January 7 meeting that included a public hearing on adding the zoning category to the town’s bylaws, Bixby recited the group’s takeaways from those comments, including a consensus to propose allowing the use for a greater number of days than in the draft. At that session, West Stockbridge homeowners and other attendees pushed for a greater time period for their STRs to operate.

According to the draft, STR owners could rent those units for a maximum of 40 days in one year without a special permit. However, if the owner seeks to rent the STR unit for more than 40 days annually but up to 80 days, a special zoning permit would be required, with no rentals allowed for more than 80 days.

The next public hearing on the draft STR bylaw is scheduled for February 4.

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