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Date: 1/14/2020
AGAWAM – A bylaw proposal that would allow accessory apartments to be built in the City of Agawam went before the planning board for the first time.
Marc Strange, Agawam’s Director of Planning and Development, told Reminder Publishing the first draft of the bylaw went before the planning board during the regularly scheduled meeting on Jan. 2.
Strange said during the meeting, the planning board went through the bylaw provision by provision. After that was done, planning board members were given the opportunity to “express concerns and opinions.”
Strange said there was a lot of discussion” and “in general, a high level perspective.” He said while the meeting was productive and the planning board was largely supportive, there were some concerns about some provisions of the bylaw raised.
One of the concerns addressed was that accessory apartments built inside homes would need a different permit than ones built outside.
“The original draft allowed for interior accessory dwelling units to be built with building permits, [but] units detached from the main house needed special permits,” Strange explained.
Ultimately, he said the planning board decided that all units being built, both inside and detached from the home, would need to go through the “special permitting process.”
Another concern, Strange said, was that the original draft allowed for detached units, but didn’t specify whether tiny houses or mobile homes fell into that category.
“So the question was, does that allow for tiny houses or mobile homes,” he said. This question, he added, the planning board was unable to come up with a quick solution for.
“That’s one question that is still outstanding. It would need to require slab or standing, [which] would exclude mobile homes,” he explained.
This question, he said, would be a “point of discussion” moving forward.
Despite some concerns, Strange said the planning board “seems to be in favor of it.” The meeting, he noted, was not heavily attended by the public, but “a lot of helpful comments were made”
Strange said now they are “going to go back and amend the draft.”
“We’re going to send out a revised draft to town departments for their opinions, and then the first [planning board] meeting on Feb. 6 we’re going to get back together and go through it again,” he said. “We’re going to have a good second draft to review.”
The next draft of the bylaw is scheduled to go before the planning board again during their regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 6.