SWAMPSCOTT — The Office of Community & Economic Development and the Swampscott Senior Center is holding an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Community Panel on Jan. 30 at Swampscott High School and over Zoom. This is in preparation for Town Meeting in May where changes to the ADU bylaw will potentially be presented.
An ADU is a “self-contained apartment in an owner occupied single-family home/ lot that is either attached to the principal dwelling or in a separate structure on the same property,” according to mass.gov. Changes to the town bylaw regarding ADUs have been on the “back burner,” Land Use Coordinator Marissa Meaney said.
“Our advice from our town council has been to do community engagement because this is a pretty significant change and we would never want the residents to be blindsided … with a warrant that explains all this written language and about ADUs and it’s something that they had no idea was even thought of being thought about.”
“We have three experts in the fields that are going to be speaking to their background and provide different beneficial aspects, information on different beneficial acts, aspects of accessory dwelling units,” Meaney said.
Antron Watson, the age friendly director at AARP, will “likely speak to the benefits that ADUs provide for senior housing,” she said.
Chris Lee, the head of design and development at Backyard ADUs, will speak on construction feasibility and construction timelines.
“His company specializes in the actual construction of detached ADU structures,” Meaney said.
Jesse Kanson-Benanav, the executive director of Abundant Housing MA, will be speaking about policy aspects.
“So any initiatives involving state funding and grants that are available to residents looking to do construction, stuff of that nature,” Meaney said. “So we are hoping that they provide enough information to the residents to understand as much as they can so that when it comes time for us to craft the language in the zoning bylaw that any of those questions that they might have had … will have been answered from the get go.”
Meaney said she hopes residents will “consider this housing initiative.”
“It provides some really creative alternative solutions to providing more affordable housing in town,” Meaney said. “The big change in the bylaw is allowing ADUs to exist within detached structures because that is something that we just flat out do not allow right now …. these structures will remain as they are, they might get an upgrade or two, but the town will look exactly as it does right now.”
