AUBURN — A special Planning Board meeting has been scheduled for Thursday to consider a flurry of ordinance amendments in the city, including one that would allow “in-law” structures to be built in zones that permit two-family homes.
Under current rules, even if a homeowner has the required land area and meets the density requirements, a second unit must be attached or contained within a single structure.
If approved, the change would allow property owners to build separate accessory dwellings.
The proposal is among several that have bounced between the City Council and Planning Board over the past several weeks, amid a push to encourage infill development and address a regional housing crunch.
Those in favor of the proposal say it will add to the diversification of housing options in the city, possibly freeing up homes for first-time homebuyers in a market low on inventory.
The City Council initially sent an informal request to the Planning Board to review the proposal in early March, but the board instead asked the council to take a formal vote on the plan.
Eric Cousens, director of planning and permitting, said the board wanted to see the nature in which proposals were being sent to them, whether it was sent unanimously or by a split vote.
During a council discussion March 15, Mayor Jason Levesque said the request could “inject influence into the process,” which sparked a debate over how the council should forward recommendations to the Planning Board in the future. The council voted unanimously to ask the board to draft language to allow secondary dwellings.
According to a Planning Board memorandum, the proposed language would stipulate that only one “principal building shall be erected” on any lot in residential zoning districts except for “an additional one-family detached dwelling in a zoning district where two-families are permitted and a single-family dwelling unit currently exists on the lot.”
The draft language also stipulates that “the additional one-family detached dwelling unit shall share a driveway curb cut with the primary dwelling unless it is determined that another driveway location could provide safer access than the existing driveway.”
For the Planning Board, Thursday’s special meeting is unusual, but will allow the board to catch up on several items ahead of more work expected next month. It signals a greater workload than normal for the Planning Board.
Planning Board Chairman Mathieu Duvall said the board did not have adequate time to address current proposals during its last meeting, with several being tabled.
“Since we did not want to fall behind in our work, the Planning Board chair and city staff asked the board to hold a special meeting to do this work before our next regularly scheduled meeting,” he said.
He said the number of ordinance amendments considered at once is unusual, but said “there is a good reason.” Eight of the nine are corrections to ordinance language that are required related to allowing secondary dwellings.
Cousens said for the Planning Board, there are more zoning change proposals coming in April, followed by Comprehensive Plan updates and then consideration of the Lake Auburn study in May. He said staff was “planning ahead so we don’t have a later bottleneck for (Planning Board) and (City Council) workshop time and agendas.”
During his recent “state of the city” address, Levesque called for a substantial increase in housing development — some 2,000 single-family homes — over the next five years, while asking officials to remove regulation barriers and encourage infill development in the downtown.
In September, the City Council agreed in concept to a six-month process to increase the available housing units in the city, a decision driven by the current housing market.
In February, officials expanded Auburn’s form-based code district known as Traditional Downtown Neighborhood to a swath of the downtown and New Auburn.
The City Council approved the final reading Monday, along with a first reading for expanding the district into the neighborhood surrounding Court and Lake streets.
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