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Date: 8/23/2023
AGAWAM — City councilors are fine with condominium units having finished basements, but housing advocates said their endorsed zoning change doesn’t go far enough.
The council voted 10-0 on Aug. 7 to allow finished basements in the Residential A-3 zone, a section of the zoning code designed to cater to condominium units. The zone change won’t take effect until the council takes a second vote, scheduled for its first meeting in September.
In a public hearing, North Agawam resident Susan Grossberg disagreed with the zone change because it prohibits bedrooms and kitchens in the basement.
“Right now, affordable housing is hard to find and livable affordable housing is very hard to find,” Grossberg said. “Having an affordable basement dwelling, even attached to your parents’ home, would give kids and seniors an opportunity to have their own living space and stay in Agawam.”
She quoted author Matthew Desmond as stating that “we cannot in good faith claim that our communities are anti-racist or anti-poverty if they continue to uphold exclusionary zoning,” and effectively bar lower-income people from “high-opportunity” suburban neighborhoods.
Housing Committee member Corinne Wingard made similar comments.
Councilor Robert Rossi, however, said this is not an affordable housing issue. It’s a matter of bringing the law into step with how people actually live in their homes, he said.
“There’s a lot of people who finish their basements off … and they do so without a building permit, which is very, very dangerous on their part,” Rossi said. “Should there be an issue down there, especially if somebody gets hurt, the insurance companies won’t pay for that. What we’re really doing here is we’re mainstreaming everything else without trying to create all kids of pitfalls” that would result from allowing kitchens and bedrooms, such as condo owners trying to create separate basement apartments.
“That’s a very important concern about the cellar,” added Councilor Paul Cavallo. “I live in a condominium. There’s no exit out of the cellar. If there was a fire down there, you’d have to run up the cellar stairs. You cannot talk about having a stove and a refrigerator, an actual kitchen down there.”
Town Solicitor Stephen Buoniconti said in the past, the town building inspector has had to tell condo owners that they could not turn their basement into a “living room, man cave, woman cave, anything to that effect.” He said condominium developers have been asking for this zone change.
Buoniconti characterized the zone change as bringing the Residential A-3 zone in line with other residential zones in Agawam, none of which prohibit finished basements. Some other zones do prohibit multi-family dwellings — which would rule out a separate apartment in the basement — and no matter what the zoning, basement living spaces have to comply with building codes.
“Most basements, you cannot legally build bedrooms under state building codes because a bedroom has to have a certain amount of window space,” said Council President Christopher Johnson, who is a lawyer.
The zone change passed 10-0, with Councilor Cecilia Calabrese abstaining.
Also at the Aug. 7 meeting, the council accepted more than $1.6 million in state budget earmarks. The funds included $1.5 million from the Department of Environmental Protection to pay for sewer line replacements on Main Street near Reed Street; $95,000 from the Department of Conservation and Recreation to purchase soccer and basketball equipment, and renovate the Memorial Field bathroom and fieldhouse; $50,000 from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for school safety improvements; and $10,000 from the state Energy Stabilization Fund to pay for energy consulting services.