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Millis planning board recommends ADU bylaw amendments to appear on warrant
Summary
The Town of Millis Planning Board closed a public hearing on accessory dwelling unit (ADU) bylaw amendments and voted to recommend the revised warrant article to the select board and town meeting after state-required edits were made to match Massachusetts law.
The Town of Millis Planning Board voted Sept. 9 to recommend amendments to the town zoning bylaw governing accessory dwelling units, known as ADUs, and to forward the revised language as a warrant article for the upcoming town meeting.
The amendments update Millis’s ADU rules to conform with changes in state law. Richard Nichols, chair of the Planning Board, said the board used language provided by town counsel and then made a few local modifications before returning it to the state for review. "We had to change that to, single dwelling units," Nichols said while explaining one of the state-directed wording changes. The board closed the public hearing and recommended the revised article.
The revisions reflect edits from the state Attorney General’s office and the Commonwealth’s ADU statute process. Camille (town counsel) and planning staff worked with the state to make the bylaw text conform to Massachusetts General Laws, chapter 48, section 5, and related state regulations governing ADUs. According to the Planning Board discussion, changes included replacing references to "single family homes" with "single dwelling units" and removing any requirement that would have allowed a planning-board special permit in favor of a more limited finding process permitted under state law.
During the public hearing the board and staff clarified the limits of local oversight under the new regime: the Planning Board will retain limited site review authority (setbacks, site fit and other dimensional matters as applicable), while detailed determinations such as gross floor area and building code compliance are within the Building Commissioner’s purview. Board members repeatedly noted that state law had narrowed the board’s review role, meaning the town will have only minimal oversight of some ADU elements.
Board members also discussed operational details raised during the hearing. The planning board will continue to assign street addresses for new ADUs and will coordinate with the post office, the assessor (map and parcel references required), police, fire and GIS so that addressing is consistent and supports public safety and mail delivery. The board asked staff to circulate post-office guidance and to coordinate address-format decisions with public-safety departments.
At the close of the hearing the board voted to recommend the amendments as a warrant article for town meeting. The Planning Board did not identify any outstanding legal obstacles but noted the Attorney General’s office had returned similar ADU articles from multiple communities for wording updates; this was presented as a statewide procedural issue rather than a local drafting error.
The board’s recommendation sends the revised ADU bylaw language forward for Select Board and town-meeting consideration; final adoption will depend on town-meeting action and any subsequent Attorney General review.
Looking ahead, staff and the board said they will prepare a memo for departments (police, fire, assessor, post office) outlining the addressing and map/parcel coordination necessary when ADUs are permitted under the amended bylaw.
