Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Wellfleet are in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you are interested in on the calendar at wellfleet-ma.gov for details. All meetings are at Town Hall unless otherwise indicated.
Thursday, Feb. 6
- Local Housing Partnership, 4 p.m., online only
- Nauset Regional School Committee, 6 p.m., Nauset Regional Middle School
Monday, Feb. 10
- Cultural Council, 5 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 12
- Commission on Disabilities, 3 p.m., online only
- Finance Committee, 7 p.m.
Conversation Starter
ADUs and Wastewater
A state law went into effect on Sunday that permits homeowners to build accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on residential property zoned for single-family homes anywhere in Massachusetts except Boston. ADUs were already legal in Wellfleet, but the new state law was still top of mind at the affordable housing trust’s Feb. 3 meeting, where Laura Shufelt of the Mass. Housing Partnership described the new rules.
The new law stipulates that towns may not pass septic regulations on ADUs that are more restrictive than the state’s Title 5 environmental code — which Wellfleet’s new septic regulations are.
Members of the housing trust could not decide whether that rule superseded the town’s own bylaws, since Wellfleet had issued a notice of intent that exempted it from certain Title 5 regulations regarding nitrogen-sensitive areas. The town’s new rules could slow or halt the development of many ADUs, select board member Michael DeVasto told the Independent.
“New regulations from the board of health do not exempt properties in the sewer district from the requirement to add upgrades to new construction,” DeVasto said. Since many home additions (including ADUs) are considered habitable space, their construction would require an expensive upgrade to a nitrogen-reducing septic system — $65,000 to $90,000 worth of work, DeVasto said.
“Basically, under the new regulations, you can’t convert any space to an ADU anymore, even a pre-existing space, without creating another septic cost,” DeVasto said. That would be a barrier to adding ADUs in town — which, broadly speaking, is why the state made restrictive septic rules on ADUs illegal.
Board members agreed that the town needed to review state and local bylaws to better synthesize its ADU and wastewater rules. —Tyler Jager
