By Carol Britton Meyer

An article aimed at closing the gap between the town’s carefully crafted accessory dwelling units (ADU) bylaw and recent state legislation that allows ADUs of a certain size to be built as-of-right in single-family zoning districts will be on the May 5 town meeting warrant.

Hull’s original ADU proposal was part of the effort to increase the town’s affordable housing stock and to allow those who wish to “age in place” to do so while benefitting from the income generated from an ADU by renting it to family members, caregivers, or others.

While the state shares those goals, there are marked differences between the Hull bylaw and the new state law.

Click here to read the full text of the town meeting warrant article.

This legislation, which is part of the Massachusetts Affordable Homes Act, requires communities to allow accessory dwelling units of no more than one-half of the gross floor area of the principal dwelling or 900 square feet – whichever is smaller – by right on single-family lots.

Voters at the 2024 annual town meeting approved an ADU bylaw with an owner occupancy requirement, while the state law doesn’t have one.

“This means that an investor could potentially come in and buy a single-family house, create an ADU, and then rent them both out,” Director of Community Development and Planning Chris DiIorio told the select board this week.

“That’s concerning,” select board member Brian McCarthy said.

No special permit needed under new law

Also, no special permit process is required under the state legislation, while a special permit is required under the Hull bylaw.

As a result of the passage of the warrant article, Hull’s bylaw allowed certain homeowners of single-family residences to add and rent out a self-contained housing unit within their home, subordinate in size to the principal dwelling, subject to the special permit process.

The new state law allows for either attached or detached ADUs and virtually replaces local zoning regulations across the state with a uniform law that allows qualifying homeowners to add these units without requiring a special permit, unless they are seeking to add more than one of these units on their property.

“We are trying to keep a sense of some kind of oversight over proposed ADUs,” DiIorio said, which makes the allowed site plan review process a valuable tool.

“We want to prohibit any detached ADUs where lots are not the appropriate size under town zoning,” he said. “We have been advised by town counsel that Hull can prohibit multiple ADUs on a single lot, so we will include that in the proposed amendment.”

Under Hull’s bylaw, the maximum size of an ADU was set at 900 square feet, and no units could be rented for fewer than six months to resolve short-term vacation rental concerns voiced by some citizens throughout the process.

In Hull, there’s a maximum of 10 permits that could be issued annually over 10 years under the town meeting-approved bylaw, for a potential 100 ADUs maximum, but such limits are no longer allowed under the new state legislation.

‘Subject to reasonable regulations’

While this legislation is “subject to reasonable regulations related to septic disposal and dimensional requirements” according to a description on Mass.gov, it differs from Hull’s new bylaw in a number of ways as outlined above. However, construction of ADUs is subject to local building codes, setback requirements, and site plan review.

Under Hull’s bylaw, ADU units are limited to a maximum of two bedrooms, with one off-street parking space required per bedroom under most circumstances. No exterior stairs to an ADU unit are allowed.

“There will be a lot of back and forth in Hull due to the smaller lot sizes,” Building Commissioner Bartley Kelly said. “[In addition], most of Hull is in a flood zone, so certain requirements must be met.”

While there were initially “a lot of applications [to create ADUs in Hull since the passage of the 2024 warrant article], and there could be even more with passage of the more liberal state legislation, Kelly said he thinks that “once [the applicant] gets into the nuts and bolts,” there could be fewer applications moving forward, or new ones filed.

“It’s not as easy as people think unless you’re living in an existing larger house,” he said.

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