Letter: Seeking AG Opinion on Amherst’s Jumbo ADU’s

The following letter was sent to Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, Amherst Town Manager Paul Bockelman, the Amherst Zoning Board of Appeals, the Amherst Planning Board, and the Amherst Town Council on August 4, 2026.

I support accessory dwelling units, but Amherst is facing a serious misuse of the state ADU law that deserves your attention.

Before the new statewide requirements, Amherst allowed ADUs by right of up to 900 square feet, or up to 1,200 square feet if either the principal house or the ADU was owner-occupied. That approach created additional housing and rental income for resident homeowners while discouraging the wholesale development of large, investor-owned student rentals.

The state law displaced that balance. Amherst officials now interpret its definition of gross floor area (GFA) to exclude a finished upper level as an “attic”—even when it contains bedrooms, a bathroom, closets, stairs, windows, and full-height ceilings. Consequently, a developer can build nearly 900 square feet on the first floor plus approximately 300 square feet of finished living space above, effectively creating a 1,200-square-foot ADU without the owner-occupancy requirement Amherst intended for a unit that large.

This is not a hypothetical concern. The Amherst Indy reported in May that the town had issued at least 21 ADU permits in five months, with another five to seven applications pending, and that at least nine approved projects appeared to use this “attic loophole.” The number of applications has since reportedly exceeded 40. The first 11 applications came from one landlord, who plainly cannot owner-occupy 11 separate properties. The pattern strongly suggests that these are not primarily modest backyard homes for relatives or supplemental income for resident homeowners, but a new investment strategy for Amherst’s highly profitable student-rental market.

Amherst’s Building Commissioner has called this outcome “unfortunate” but says the town must accept it. Town officials and counsel have warned that defining gross floor area as all habitable space could provoke action by your office—even though the state apparently never provided Amherst with a requested opinion. Meanwhile, Deerfield has adopted clearer language counting finished attic space within the GFA, while excluding only unfinished attics.

Massachusetts has recognized that communities with unusual housing pressures sometimes require tailored rules, including special treatment for Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard in addressing short-term rentals. Amherst also has exceptional circumstances: a large flagship university within a small town, intense student-housing demand, and residential neighborhoods already heavily affected by investor-owned rentals.

Please clarify whether your office truly maintains that Amherst must:

• disregard finished bedrooms, bathrooms, and stairs when calculating an ADU’s GFA and
• permit investor-owned, effectively 1,200-square-foot ADUs without owner occupancy.

If that is not your position, Amherst needs clear guidance immediately. If it is, I respectfully ask you to support a legislative or regulatory correction allowing Amherst to prevent this circumvention of the law’s purpose.

This is not opposition to ADUs or to students. It is a request that 900 square feet mean 900 square feet—and that Amherst retain reasonable authority to address a form of development uniquely susceptible to exploitation here.

Ira Bryck

Ira Bryck has lived in Amherst since 1993, ran the Family Business Center for 25 years, hosted the “Western Mass. Business Show” on WHMP for seven years, now coaches business leaders, and is a big fan of Amherst’s downtown.