On Friday, December 13, 2024, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) released a set of draft regulations intended to clarify and administer the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) provisions of the Affordable Homes Act (Chapter 150 of the Acts of 2024). The public comment period opened on December 20, 2024, and runs until 11:59 PM on January 10, 2025. Written comments on the draft ADU regulations may be submitted to EOHLC through an online public comment form.
Section 8 of the Affordable Homes Act, which goes into effect February 2, 2025, amended Section 3 of the Zoning Act (M.G.L. c. 40A, s. 3) to allow ADUs (as defined in M.G.L. c. 40A, s. 1A) to be built as-of-right in single-family zoning districts while preserving municipal authority to impose reasonable zoning regulations on ADUs. This includes site plan review, Title 5 requirements, and certain dimensional requirements.
The draft ADU regulations are intended to assist municipalities in administering the ADU law by defining relevant terms and establishing standards for determining the types of ADU regulations that are allowed under the Affordable Homes Act and those that are not (i.e., “prohibited regulations” and “unreasonable regulations”). The draft ADU regulations also describe the circumstances under which a prohibited regulation or an unreasonable regulation imposed on a pre-existing ADU would continue to be enforceable, and when a special permit would be required for more than one ADU on the same lot.
In addition to the written public comment period, EOHLC will hold a hybrid public hearing on the draft ADU regulations on January 10, 2025, at 10:00 AM. EOHLC intends to issue final regulations by the effective date of the ADU law, February 2, 2025. For more information on the draft ADU regulations, see here.
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