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Malden City Council holds placeholder session; no reconsideration filed on ADU ordinance
Summary
The Malden City Council convened a brief placeholder meeting to allow any member to move to reconsider paper 13 25, the city's accessory dwelling unit (ADU) ordinance; no reconsideration was filed and the council adjourned at 7:40 p.m.
Malden City Council convened a brief placeholder session to allow any member to move to reconsider paper 13 25, the city's recently enacted accessory dwelling unit (ADU) ordinance, and adjourned without any reconsideration being filed.
The meeting was held solely to permit a councilor to request reconsideration within the council's 24-hour reconsideration window following the body's adjournment of the prior meeting. A staff member told the council the session had been scheduled as a precaution because the state Affordable Homes Act takes effect on Feb. 2 and would control ADU rules if the city had no local zoning in place.
During the session, the staff member summarized the recent process: Councilor Linehan requested policy work on ADUs last year; an internal working group drafted a preliminary ordinance; the ordinance committee met four times; and the council voted to enroll the ADU ordinance on Tuesday and ordained it the following day. The staff member said the ordinance is effective pending no timely reconsideration and apologized for late-night deliberations earlier in the week. "The Affordable Homes Act ... is taking effect on Feb. 2," the staff member said.
No councilor moved to reconsider paper 13 25 before the council's reconsideration deadline. Councilor Taylor moved to adjourn; Councilor Colon Hayes seconded. The clerk conducted a roll-call vote, and the council voted unanimously to adjourn. The staff member closed the meeting: "We are adjourned at 07:40. Thank you all."
Because no reconsideration motion was made during the placeholder session, the ordinance remains in effect pending any subsequent lawful action under the council's rules or changes required by the state Affordable Homes Act.
The session was limited in scope: it did not include public comment or further debate on substantive changes to the ordinance. The council had held prior hearings, including a joint public hearing referenced during the session at which the transcript records that no testimony in opposition was received.
Future changes to ADU zoning will depend on whether a councilor files a timely motion to reconsider under council rules or on the interaction between the city's ordinance and the state Affordable Homes Act, which takes effect Feb. 2.
