Meetings are held remotely. From wellfleet-ma.gov, hover over a date on the calendar on the right of the screen and click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its agenda and learn how to take part.
Thursday, April 15
- Herring River Executive Council, 3 p.m.
Tuesday, April 20
- Emergency Management Team Covid-19 community update, 10 a.m.
- Select Board, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, April 21
- Advisory Board of the Wellfleet Council on Aging, 10 a.m.
- Wellfleet Conservation Commission, 4 p.m.
Thursday, April 22
- Select Board, 6 p.m.
Conversation Starters
On the Table: ADUs
The select board voted 4-0 on April 13 to approve the local housing partnership’s proposed bylaw regulating accessory dwelling units (ADUs), referring it — as amended by the select board — to the planning board, and placing it on the warrant for the June 5 town meeting. Board member Justina Carlson recused herself from discussion of the bylaw.
Members of the planning board began re-examining the town’s affordable accessory dwelling unit (AADU) bylaw last December, and on Jan. 6 voted to draft an umbrella bylaw legalizing ADUs and allowing for easy transitions between ADUs and AADUs in town. But on Feb. 17, citing what planning board member Beth Singer called “insurmountable challenges,” the board abandoned its initiative.
In response, a group of Wellfleet residents including Olga Kahn of the planning board, Elaine McIlroy of the housing authority, Helen Miranda Wilson of the select board, and Sharon Rule-Agger of the local housing partnership drafted the proposed bylaw that was discussed at Tuesday’s meeting.
The proposal would strike all mention of AADUs from the zoning bylaw. Town residents would have to apply for and receive a building permit for an ADU from the building inspector before beginning construction and sign annual affidavits of compliance to confirm that the ADU is being leased on a yearly basis. No rent or income restrictions would apply to ADUs, but any property owner who chose to rent his unit at an affordable price could benefit from the affordable housing property tax exemption.
It’s now up to the planning board to review the bylaw and make a recommendation for town meeting. Board chair Gerry Parent has made clear his skepticism of any bylaw change coming via petition.
“Most of the time,” he said at on Feb. 17, “when a petitioned article is placed, it has a lot more serious problems than when the planning board does it.”
But Wilson said the group consulted the building inspector, the health and conservation agent, former Town Administrator Harry Terkanian, attorney Bruce Bierhans, and other advisers during the drafting process.
“This got perhaps even a greater degree of scrutiny than a zoning bylaw gets going through the planning board,” she said. “No disrespect to them.” —Josephine de La Bruyère
