Carole.Plumb@waylandpost.org
To combat the housing shortage and rising prices, Massachusetts passed the Affordable Housing Act in August 2024. One policy initiative in the Act was to require municipalities to allow Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) to be built by right in single-family zoned districts across the State.
Article 19 proposes to harmonize Wayland’s 1986 ADU zoning bylaw to comply with the changes required by the state law which went into effect on February 2, 2025. The Planning board developed this update to the town zoning to create regulations for interim control over setbacks and other specifications in time for the April Annual Town Meeting.
The board’s stated intent is to refine the ADU bylaw in the future and maintain local control where possible. The model bylaw and guidelines were released on March 11 2025 by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) on behalf of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) and the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP). The document provides guidelines on how to have reasonable zoning restrictions that effectively address legitimate municipal interests without, in this case, significantly reducing or limiting how property owners can use their land or buildings for ADUs and run afoul of the Dover amendment.
The Dover Amendment is the common name for Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40A, Section 3 Zoning Act that mandates that no municipal zoning by-law or ordinance may prohibit, regulate, or restrict the use of land or structures for land uses like childcare, agriculture, religious facilities, solar energy systems, and now ADUs.
An ADU is an additional residential unit that can be built within an existing home or outside of it. Often called “granny flats,” or “in-law apartments,” ADUs are sometimes used to support multigenerational families or to provide smaller homes that meet specific needs. Internal ADUs are additional units built within an existing home, such as by converting a basement or attic into a separate unit. External ADUs are units that are built as additions to existing homes or as fully detached, smaller structures.
The defining feature of an ADU is that the floor space is not larger in Gross Floor Area than ½ the Gross Floor Area of the principal dwelling or 900 square feet, whichever is smaller.
Article 19 will make two motions to cover provisions for an ADU and an affordable ADU (AADU). The AADUs will have deed restrictions to ensure affordability over time. The first motion by a simple majority vote will amend the Town’s Zoning bylaw Chapter 198 to allow ADUs by right and comply with the Affordable Housing Act.
The second motion by a 2/3rd vote will amend Chapter 198 to create and define an AADU as a permitted use in a single residence district by special permit. The AADU will mean “an Accessory Dwelling Unit that is deed restricted for sale, lease or rental to a qualified income-eligible household, at specific price limits, that qualify such residential unit for inclusion in the Chapter 40B Inventory of Subsidized Housing maintained by” the EOHLC.
The Housing Partnership inquired of the former Town Planner in 2019 how many ADUs were present in Wayland and he had a list of approximately 80 properties that appeared to have ADUs. No inquiries at the time were made if the structures had been permitted through the building department. Wayland’s 1986 ADU bylaw appears to have never been applied to building permits yet.
The Planning board discussed at its Dec 10 2024 and later meetings how to adapt the town’s zoning to handle pre-existing, unpermitted, and possibly nonconforming units, septic system capacity issues, potential conflicts with existing setback requirements and lot coverage limitations, how ADUs would interact with non-conforming principal dwellings, allowing ADUs in mixed-use districts, difficulty in tracking and enforcing affordable housing and parking restrictions, preventing use of ADUs for short-term rentals like AirBnB, how to monitor and enforce compliance with rental restrictions, what criteria should be used for granting special permits for larger ADUs or multiple ADUs.
Boards and staff have expressed concerns about how an increase in building of ADUs to affect workloads at the building department, in septic reviews, tree removal and stormwater issues. The Housing Partnership and Housing Authority are looking forward to ADUs as a way to gain much needed, more affordable housing in town as compared to a single family home.
