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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-01-12 Planning Board MinutesIrJ Accessory Apartment/Final Draft - January 12, 1983. DEFINITION: ACCESSORY APARTMENT: One or more rooms with separate kitchen and bathroom facilities in a home originally constructed as a single housing unit for the occupancy of a separate household, which will be limited by size, building code requirements and external appearances, as a minimum. BY-LAW: PURPOSE: The purpose of allowing accessory apartments within the Town is to encourage the alteration and/or construction of a limited number of housing units which will increase the availability of rental units within the Town and will help to meet local housing needs without causing signifi- cantly adverse effects on the character and municipal services of the community and to ensure compliance with State and local planning standards and policies concerned with land use, building design and requirements of the health, safety, convenience and general welfare of the inhabitants of the Town. RESTRICTIONS: Any and all persons seeking a Special Permit for an accessory apartment.-shall, as a minimum, meet the following conditions: a) b) The dwelling, in which the accessory apartment is to be located, had a executed use and occupancy certificate and was occupied prior to August 1, 1982; The accessory apartment shall be a use incidental to the single family dwelling and shall occupy no more than 1/3 of the gross floor area (as of August 1, 1982) of the single family dwelling, exclusive of any garage, shed or similar struc- ture of accessory use attached to the single family dwelling and shall contain as a minimum at least 400 square feet of living space and as a maximum no more than 750 square feet of living space. The formula for computing the impact on density shall be based on a ratio of building area to total land area not to be more than 1:5; C) The owner or owners of the building in which the accessory apartment is located resides in the apartment or principal residence and shall not be absent therefrom for a period not to exceed one year and during said temporary absence said owner or owners shall not lease or allow to be occupied by unrelated persons that portion of the building in which they reside; Accessory Apartments/Final Draft Page 2 1/12/83 d) The accessory apartment and any and all other modifications to the principal dwelling shall be designed so that the appearance of the building remains that of a single-family residence. Any new entries shall be located on the side or in the rear of the building and any additions for access and/or egress shall not increase the square footage of the original house by more than ten per cent (10%) and the building density no more than that allowed in paragraph b) above; e) All motor vehicles owned or maintained by occupants of the building in which the accessory apartment is located shall be parked off the street and the loca- tion and appearance of all additional off-street:. parking shall not adversely affect adjoining proper- ties, properties in the neighborhood or the single- family appearance of the neighborhood in general and will cause no change to-the front yard parking area as it existed on August 1, 1982; f) There shall be no other apartment on the lot on which the accessory apartment is to be located; g) The accessory apartment shall. meet all building code requirements and shall.have properly installed and maintained fire safety devices for the protection of all occupants in the entire dwelling; h) Special Permits for accessory apartments can be issued by the Boardof Appeals up to'a limit of ten per cent (10%). of all eligible single-family housing stock, PROCESS: An owner or owners of a single-family dwelling must make application to the Board of Appeals for a Special Permit for the alteration and/or construction and occupancy of an accessory dwelling unit in a single-family dwelling in compliance with all of the above-listed restrictions. The Board of Appeals will then post notice of.this.public hearing in accordance with Chapter 40A. The Special Per- mit for said accessory apartment is not transferable with ownership and separate application must be made to the Board of Appeals when title of ownership is transferred. If the terms and/or conditions of the Special Permit for an accessory apartment are not being complied with, such Special Permit can and will be revoked in accordance with standard enforcement procedures, or if all conditions are not met within one year of issuance of the permit, the Special Permit will be null and void.