Accessory Dwelling Unit Ordinance
History and Background
April 22, 2021| The City Council Subcommittee on Ordinances, Licenses and Legal Affairs reviewed revisions recommended by the City Solicitor and referred the ordinance out of committee to the City Council with a positive recommendation.
The City Council accepted the recommendation from the subcommittee and adopted first passage with 7 in favor and 4 against (view the full text of the ordinance by clicking the image below).
April 15, 2021| The City Council Subcommittee on Ordinances, Licenses and Legal Affairs voted to work on the ordinance that does not allow accessory dwelling units within new detached structures and accept the Planning Board recommended edits. The ordinance was kept in committee to provide the City Solicitor an opportunity to review the ordinance before referring it back to the City Council.
April 8, 2021| The City Council received the Planning Board recommendation and referred the ordinance to the Committee on Ordinances, Licenses and Legal Affairs. City staff also provided a response to questions asked at the March 30, 2021 Joint Public Hearing. Responses can be found by click in the images below.
April 6, 2021| On April 1, 2021 the Planning voted to recommend that the City Council approve the Accessory Dwelling Unit zoning amendment with some revisions. The recommendation was filed with the City Clerk on April 6th. The full text of the Planning Board’s recommendation can be viewed by clicking the image below.
March 30, 2021| The City Council and Planning Board held a joint public hearing to review both versions of the ordinance and closed the hearing that night. The City Council referred the ordinance to the Planning Board for a recommendation. A recording of the meeting and a link to the powerpoint presentation can be found below.
February 25, 2021| The City Council referred both versions of the ADU ordinance to a Joint Public Hearing with the Planning Board.
February 23, 2021| Councillor McCarthy filed an additional version of the ADU ordinance that includes everything in the February 9th submittal by the Mayor, with the exception of allowing new detached accessory dwelling units by way of a special permit.
February 9, 2021| Mayor Driscoll filed an affordable accessory dwelling unit (ADU) Ordinance for the City Council to consider. The proposed ordinance can be found by clicking the image below.
August 2, 2020 | Pursuant to the Zoning Enabling Act, Chapter 40A, if a City fails to vote to adopt a zoning proposal within ninety days (90) after the hearing by the City Council, no action can be taken on that proposal until after a subsequent notice, public hearings or joint hearing and report by the Planning Board.
The 90-day period elapsed before the City Council took a final vote. As such, the ordinance was not adopted.
May 28, 2020 | On May 28, 2020, OLLA Chair, Councillor Madore will offer a report of the OLLA Subcommittee for the ADU Ordinance.
Materials submitted to the Council from staff include the ADU ordinance with recommended edits to include a rent cap, an edited version of the special act to be
consistent with the ordinance and a letter from staff that explains the
revisions. The package of materials can be found by clicking the image below.
Update Letter From the Mayor to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board
May 26, 2020 | On May 26, 2020, the Ordinance, License and Legal Affairs (OLLA) subcommittee of the City Council met to discuss the Planning Board’s recommendation and to discuss a Home Rule Petition that proposes a tax exemption on affordable ADUs. The OLLA subcommittee will continue their discussion of the Home Rule Petition at a future subcommittee meeting.
At the meeting Mayor Driscoll informed the subcommittee that staff is working on edits to the ADU ordinance that will require a rent cap on ADUs, similar to how ADUs are handled in the Town of Wellfleet.
The rent control law prohibits requiring rent to be set below fair market rent,
unless they are subsidized in some way. The modest tax exemption that is currently before the City Council would be that required subsidy.
The maximum allowed rent would be based on a percentage of fair market rent, as shown in the image below.
May 14, 2020 | On May 14, 2020, the Ordinance, License and Legal Affairs (OLLA) subcommittee of the City Council met to discuss a Home Rule Petition that proposes a tax exemption on affordable ADUs. The purpose of the tax exemption is to incentivize homeowners to rent their ADUs at no more than 60 percent AMI. The full text of the proposed Home Rule Petition can be viewed by clicking the image below. Two follow up letters from staff that respond to the questions from the OLLA subcommittee are also linked in the images below. The OLLA subcommittee will continue their discussion of the Home Rule Petition on Tuesday May 26, 2020.
May 11, 2020 | On May 8, 2020 the Planning voted to recommend that the City Council approve the Accessory Dwelling Unit zoning amendment with some revisions. The recommendation was filed with the City Clerk on May 11th. The full text of the Planning Board’s recommendation can be viewed by clicking the image below.
May 4, 2020 | The City Council and Planning Board closed the public hearing and referred the zoning amendment to the Planning Board. A recording of the meeting is linked in the image below.
April 13, 2020 | The City Council and Planning Board held a joint public hearing and continued the hearing to May 4, 2020. A recording of the meeting and the documents discussed at the meeting are linked in the images below.
March 30, 2020 | The City Council and Planning Board held a joint public hearing a March 30th. The joint public hearing was continued to April 13, 2020. A recording of the meeting is linked in the image below.
Click to open Feb. 12 proposed ADU ordinance.
February 13, 2020 | An updated version of the Accessory Dwelling Unit ordinance has been submitted to the City Council for their February 13, 2020 meeting. The ordinance was referred to a joint public hearing with the Planning Board.
October 24, 2019 | Second passage of the Accessory Dwelling Unit ordinance failed by a vote of 6 yeas (Furey, Gerard, Madore, McCarthy, Peterson, and Turiel), 5 nays (Dibble, Dominguez, Flynn, Milo, and Sargent) and 0 absent—in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, changes to zoning laws require a 2/3 “super majority” for passage.
October 23, 2019 | The Accessory Dwelling Unit ordinance was voted out of the Committee on Ordinances, Licenses & Legal Affairs and sent to City Council to vote on second passage.
October 10, 2019 | Salem’s City Council gives the Accessory Dwelling Unit ordinance first passage in an 8-3 vote, returning the ordinance back to the OLLA subcommittee.
September 12, 2019 | City Council refers the ordinance to the Ordinance, Licenses and Legal Affairs (OLLA) subcommittee.
September 5, 2019 | The Planning Board makes a recommendation to the City Council following two joint public hearings to listen to resident input regarding accessory dwelling units.
August 15, 2019 | Second of two public hearings regarding accessory dwelling units.
July 8, 2019 | First of two public hearing regarding accessory dwelling units.
June 13, 2019 | City Council referred the ordinance to the Planning Board to hold a joint public meeting.
April 23, 2019 | At a Housing Workshop, recommended amendments to Salem’s existing accessory dwelling unit ordinance and recommendations for the inclusionary zoning ordinance were presented. After each recommendation was described, attendees engaged in facilitated small group discussions at their tables and filled out worksheets with their thoughts. After each presentation and discussion concluded, attendees were polled to gauge how supportive they did or did not feel about both the proposed accessory dwelling unit amendments and the inclusionary zoning recommendations. Results from the poll showed significant public support for both tools and the specific recommendations.
March 5, 2019 | The City hosting a Housing Forum to present strategies to increase the supply of affordable housing were presented and then discussed in small groups. The strategies included: accessory dwelling units, inclusionary zoning, rental subsidies, leveraging public owned land, and a condominium conversion ordinance. After the presentations and discussions, the audience was polled to see what tools the City should pursue in addition to inclusionary zoning. Results from the poll showed updates the ADU ordinance and leveraging public owned land are the top two strategies.
Resources
With questions contact Amanda Chiancola, Senior Planner, at 978-619-5685 or achiancola@salem.com.
