How should ADUs - or so-called in-law apartments - look in Swampscott?

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — A push to expand the inventory of accessory-dwelling unit apartments in Swampscott to include detached carriage houses and garages got a push from the Select Board on Tuesday as Board members sought to loosen additional restrictions seen as barriers to building the so-called in-law apartments.

The Planning Board reworked several aspects of the current ADU allowance from 2009 that would allow the ADUs "by right" instead of requiring a special zoning permit, added the possibility of creating ADUs in existing detached structures and stating that the owner of the property could reside in either the main dwelling or the ADU.

Some Select Board members pushed for the changes to perhaps be even more ambitious as a way to augment the town's stressed housing inventory at what would be relatively-affordable rates.

"In the last three years (Land Use Coordinator) Marissa (Meaney) can count on her two hands the number of ADUs that have been allowed in this town," Planning Board member Mike Proscia told the Board. "Even the most progressive towns in Massachusetts are producing less than two dozen per year. That's not a lot. I would like to get on that level.

"I can't put a number to it. I just want to see success."

ADU proponents champion them as a way to produce additional housing at lower costs to seniors and younger people without substantial new development, and as a way for aging residents potentially to be able to rent out part of their property so that they downside and still stay in their homes.

ADU opponents generally voice concerns over adding congestion to traditional residential neighborhoods and changing the character of those neighborhoods.

The challenge facing the Swampscott Select Board and Planning Board — as it is for communities across the North Shore pushing ADUs as one small solution to the housing crunch — is finding bylaw language that residents will support while not being prohibitive to the ADUs actually being built.

"One thing that I hear quite a bit is people's concern about density in town," Select Board MaryEllen Fletcher noted. "So based on the (number projections) I think it's important to put out there that we're not suddenly going to have another 1,500 people living in town. It doesn't look like there is going to be this mad dash for ADUs. But the density issue is something I think we can't ignore and we have to be respectful of."

Housing advocates, however, argue that cities and towns generally must accept more density to meet housing needs. That is one aspect of the new MBTA zoning overlay district that will make cities and towns that have public transportation hubs ineligible for some state funding if they do not open their zoning bylaws around those stations to multi-family housing.

"We all hear about the density thing," Select Board member Peter Spellios said. "You are either going to do a policy that's meeting a policy objective or you are not. But it can't be a policy objective to a point. We only want 'enough' affordable housing.

"What's enough and who is making that decision?"

The concern even for many ADU proponents is that going too far will result in a backlash that could erode public support for the initiative.

A move to jumpstart the ADU initiative in Salem stalled in recent months when residents spoke out in public hearings against the idea of having ADUs in non-homeowner-occupied houses, but proponents of the measure argued that nearly any additional new rental properties are beneficial given the current housing crisis on the North Shore.

"The most open version of this bylaw would allow detached new structures by right," Proscia said. "And if we were going to talk about the most liberal version of that, Portland, Maine allows two ADUs per lot. That is, by and large, very progressive on this front.

"We heard that perspective from this person who builds ADUs, and Portland's production is higher. We talked about just allowing new detached ADUs. And, frankly, we talked about the politics of that, and concerns from the folks in town about density. Rightfully, so. We're a very dense community."

One other talking point was the requirement in the warrant article draft that without a special permit the ADUs must include one dedicated parking spot. Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald and Spellios both questioned why that is a necessity in a community looking to become more public transit-oriented.

Most state ADU bylaws include the parking provision as a way to ease existing resident concerns that ADU tenants take up limited on-street parking.

"I'd like to present this to town meeting and have it embraced instead of feeling like there is some sort of objection," Planning Board Chair Angela Ippolito said. "I would truly like to be able to express our excitement about it as something that is a great idea, and can get passed, and is embraced by the community.

"I'm hoping that's how it will go."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)