On June 12, 2023, the Town Council voted 4-2 in favor of sending the proposed Zoning Ordinance amendments relating to LD 2003 to a public hearing on July 10, 2023.  Councilors Timothy Reiniger and Susan Gillis voted against the motion.  Prior to that vote, the council voted 5-1 in favor of an amendment made by Councilor Penny Jordan to reduce the proposed maximum square footage for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) from 1,800 to 1,100 square feet.  Councilor Reiniger voted against the amendment.  The considered ordinance for the public hearing will incorporate this amendment.  Councilor Gretchen Noonan was absent from the meeting.

Reiniger made an unsuccessful amendment to delay sending the Zoning Ordinance to a July public hearing until after the Housing Diversity Study Committee provides a report to the council in September.  “I feel no urgency.  September will have more people back from vacation,” Reiniger said.  Reiniger and Gillis voted in favor of the amendment, but the remaining four councilors were opposed.  Councilor Nicole Boucher said, “If we have a public hearing, we can hear from the public what they want to hear about, which will help the HDSC develop their survey.  At some point, we really need to have the public talk about this.”  

Chair Jeremy Gabrielson asked Town Manager Matthew Sturgis to review the steps available to the council following a public hearing.  Sturgis said, “Sometimes the council will take action the same night as a public hearing; other times, they council will delay the vote to the following month.”  Following a successful vote, it would be another 30 days before the change would take effect.  Councilor Caitlin Jordan added that the council is not required to vote within a certain amount of time following a public hearing, “We don’t necessarily have to have a decision the following month.”  “There’s really no reason not to hold a public hearing right now; we are only making ourselves have a tighter timeline.  If we don’t think we get enough response, we could hold another public hearing.”  Gabrielson said “I definitely feel that we should not schedule a vote for July 10; that will not be on the agenda.  At the earliest, we should consider having a vote on it in August, but I hope that we can use this opportunity after the public hearing to both hear from the public and the ad-hoc Housing Diversity Study Committee on some of the substance of what is in this ordinance.”

Reiniger shared his concern that the ordinance amendments do not align with the Comprehensive Plan and would like the Town attorney to perform an analysis to verify compliance.  Councilor Penny Jordan indicated that the Ordinance Committee did reference the Comprehensive Plan as they reviewed LD 2003.  Town Planner Maureen O'Meara said that Town attorney, Mary Costigan, had reviewed the draft amendments and added, “If there were inconsistencies with these amendments, I would have recommended months ago that an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan accompany these amendments.”

As to P. Jordan’s amendment to reduce the maximum ADU size to 1,100 square feet, Jordan explained that this was based on research which showed that the average size in other states is 1,000 square feet.  In addition, Jordan added, “There are people out there who are hoping to construct ADUs for their disabled children, their parents, and other reasons, and I think we need to acknowledge that part of this ordinance will help citizens in town solve these housing problems we have.”  The current ordinance limits ADUs to 600 square feet and mandates that the ADU can be no larger than 25% of the original property.