Zoning committee to update ordinance to comply with new state laws on accessory units, parking and short-term rentals

The Zoning Amendment Committee on Aug. 27 agreed the town must revise its zoning ordinance to comply with several recent state statutory changes, including new rules on accessory dwelling units, parking minimums and home-based uses. Jesse MacAother, the town planner, opened the discussion by outlining multiple statutory updates and proposed edits to the ordinance.

Committee members said the changes are mandatory and should be treated as a priority. "I think the absolute answer is yes, because now it is a state statute. Right. And we should figure out how we're gonna deal with it," Paul Moncioni said, arguing the committee must act this year.

The memo distributed by MacAother identified specific areas for revision. Under the new state law, accessory dwelling units (ADUs) may be detached and, where residential uses are allowed, the town can no longer require special exceptions for ADUs. MacAother said he had started edits in section 3.19 and the table of uses to mark ADUs as allowed-by-right across applicable residential zones.

The committee also discussed a separate statutory change that limits local ability to impose higher parking minimums. MacAother noted the town’s existing requirement of four parking spaces for certain uses would need to be reduced to two to align with state law.

Short-term rental rules were raised as another area affected by recent statutory changes. MacAother highlighted language in the town’s code about road waivers and the multi-step approvals historically required, saying the new law could streamline some requirements but the town may lack the administrative framework to remove those local steps immediately.

Child-care uses were discussed as a distinct category in the memo. MacAother said recent state guidance largely addresses home-based child-care and exempts many small home-based providers from site-plan approval; center-based child-care largely remains governed by existing local rules.

What happened: the committee agreed these statute-driven items should be grouped as high priority housekeeping amendments and that MacAother would consult with the town attorney about whether they could be consolidated into a single warrant article or should be submitted separately.

What it means: if the town does not update its ordinance language, state law will supersede local rules where conflicts exist. The committee discussed keeping the changes “as simple and clean as possible,” and flagged multiple ordinance sections (table of uses, definitions, special-exception provisions) that will need edits.

Next steps: MacAother will consult town counsel, prepare draft language reflecting statutory requirements, and return proposed edits to the committee for review. The committee asked that accessory-dwelling, parking and short-term-rental changes be placed on the next meeting agenda for detailed line-by-line review.

Context: Committee members said some changes are strictly compliance matters—statutory preemption means certain local limits cannot remain in place regardless of voter action—and that grouping them into a single administrative amendment could reduce the number of separate warrant articles required from the town.