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LEYDEN — Residents can expect a Special Town Meeting next month to vote on a pair of proposed bylaws regarding accessory dwelling units (ADUs). The Planning Board held a public hearing on Wednesday to review the warrant articles likely to come up for a vote on Jan. 29.
A handful of people showed up to the Municipal Offices on Brattleboro Road to hear more about the articles and one, Sara Seinberg, said she would like board members to consider amending the proposed definition of a common driveway to include more than four residences or more than two legal building lots, as is currently written. “If somebody that lived on one of those lots wanted to not just have one ADU but, for instance, have two ADUs, they would breach what the bylaw says is the maximum number of dwellings that can access the driveway,” she said in an interview after the public hearing. “And I wanted them to consider expanding that, in case people wanted to have multi-generational ADUs on the shared driveway, and to make that possible.
” One of the articles proposes use regulations for ADUs and definitions for 12 related terms. Its adoption would define a common driveway as one serving as the primary vehicular access for no more than two legal building lots or no more than four dwelling units owned in common or created by reciprocal easements. This article requires a two-thirds majority for adoption.
“I would hate for that person to be denied a special permit to have an additional ADU that somebody without a shared driveway could get simply because of this four-person limit thing,” she told Planning Board members. “It seems that that would be an undue burden on someone being able to live the life they want to live rurally based on just that ‘four’ restriction number. So I would just love for the Planning Board to think about that.
” Planning Board Chair James Brodeur, a retired firefighter, mentioned driveways must be able to accommodate emergency vehicles. The other article up for consideration at next month’s Special Town Meeting focuses on the definition of an ADU. It would, in part, be defined as “a self-contained housing unit, inclusive of sleeping, cooking and sanitary facilities on the same lot as a single-family dwelling, subject to otherwise applicable dimensional and parking requirements.
” An ADU would have to maintain a separate entrance, either directly from the outside or through an entry hall or corridor shared with the single-family dwelling, in accordance with building codes. It could also be no larger than half the gross floor area of the single-family dwelling or 1,200 square feet, whichever is smaller. Article continues after.
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