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Jul 14, 2023

Lowell City Council inches closer to an ADU ordinance

LOWELL — After a three-and-half-hour discussion on accessory dwelling units, something every city councilor at Monday night’s special meeting could unanimously agree to was the motion to adjourn. It

LOWELL — After a three-and-half-hour discussion on accessory dwelling units, something every city councilor at Monday night’s special meeting could unanimously agree to was the motion to adjourn.

It was a well-deserved break after a night of vigorous debate crafting an ordinance to equitably increase the city’s housing units.

Mayor Sokhary Chau noted his support for ADUs, but said he respected the process the members were engaged in to reach consensus given the new neighborhood representation on the council.

“Lowell is the seventh most dense city in the commonwealth,” Chau said. “Probably more affected in some neighborhoods and streets than others. Elected leaders make decisions that affect the entire city. We do have neighborhood representation, but an ordinance like this affects the whole city. We have respect on all sides.”

The proposed ordinance defines an ADU as “a self-contained housing unit, inclusive of sleeping, cooking and sanitary facilities on the same lot as a principal dwelling, subject to otherwise applicable dimensional and parking requirements, that maintains a separate entrance….”

The separate entrance is what makes ADUs distinct from existing zoning regulations that allow so-called in-law units. The council previously amended the ordinance that detached ADUs require a special permit from one of the land-use boards.

Monday’s meeting was the first time in a yearlong process that all the relevant parties were in the room at the same time answering questions and explaining land-use policies and procedures to the councilors and the viewing public.

Planning Board Chair Thomas Linnehan and Vice Chair Gerard Frechette attended, as did Deputy Director of Planning and Development Camilia Espita and Development Services Senior Planner Francesca Cigliano, as well as City Solicitor Corey Williams and First City Solicitor John McKenna.

City Manager Tom Golden attended with Chief Financial Officer Conor Baldwin and Assistant City Manager Shawn Machado.

Chau gave the floor in turn to each councilor to submit motions to amend the existing draft ordinance and generously allowed extended discussion that brought in audience and staff participation as part of the ad-hoc, roundtable-style meeting.

The body heard from seven speakers during the free-flowing public meeting portion and rigorously debated 11 motions, four of which passed with unanimous consent, two failed, four passed by split votes, and one was withdrawn.

The Law Department was tasked with reporting back to the council on four motions, including an amendment requiring rent control as part of the application approval.

“Rent control as a general premise is not allowed,” Williams said. “My office would have to look into that with a lot more detail. Home rule is one avenue.”

Another motion followed on the home rule thread, which is currently used in the city of Salem.

Salem’s home rule allows a form of rent control with the provision that the city reduces the tax burden on an ADU space in recognition of the fact that the applicant has created an affordable housing unit.

The motion asked the city solicitor to prepare a home-rule petition and to get a report back from the city manager on that potential avenue.

Williams’ staff was also tasked with defining ownership language for properties held in trust.

The Law Department, which was understaffed for almost a year, recently hired in a full complement of attorneys, including four second assistant city solicitors.

The council got a lesson on all the departments involved in housing production.

“We try not to overregulate the ordinances and to strike a balance between reasonable regulations that will be consistent with what is allowed in the urban form in neighborhoods already, unless they’re in a historic district,” Cigliano said.

Only applicants who do not meet the zoning requirements — who are requesting variances — appear before the planning or zoning boards. Attached ADUs remain by-right as long as the existing zoning code — height, setbacks, floor-area ratio and other conditions — are met by the homeowner. Motions to change that designation have repeatedly failed.

The council did not take a vote on the ordinance itself and instead tasked the Law Department to vet and draft an ordinance that incorporates all the amendments into a legal document to present to the council at its next meeting on Sept. 11, at which time it will also hear the reports on rent control, home rule and trust ownership language.

The ordinance is still a work in progress, but the council unanimously passed an amendment requiring a review by the City Council one year from the date of implementation or upon issuance of 16 permits, and signaled that perhaps the process was moving toward resolution.

“Everything that gets worked through tonight — amendments, changes after the discussion, whatever that final product is — gets sent back to the Law Department,” Williams said. “We would put the ordinance together, make all the changes that we would need to, then it would go for its first reading and then a public hearing.”

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