Letter: Clear ADU Rules Will Add Homes to Our Community in a Way That Works for Everyone

The following letter was sent to the Amherst Planning Board and the Town Council’s Community Resources Committee on Nov. 9, 2026.

As a District 4 resident, I support accessory dwelling units. A small apartment can help an older parent stay close to family, give an adult child a place to live, or bring in rental income that helps a homeowner stay in Amherst. Thank you for working to clarify the bylaw. I’m asking you to draw a clear line on what counts toward the size limit and to ask Beacon Hill for the flexibility to address Amherst’s housing pressures.

Count Habitable Upper Floors Toward the Size Limit

At 27 Newell Court, the building commissioner classified an upstairs with two bedrooms and a bathroom as an attic because it fell just below the bylaw’s threshold for a half-story. The Amherst Indy reported that including the upstairs would bring the unit to 1,188 square feet. The protected-use limit is 900 square feet or half the principal dwelling’s gross floor area, whichever is smaller. Amherst allows larger local ADUs up to 1,200 square feet, provided the owner occupies either dwelling as their principal residence and meets the other local dimensional requirements. Please recommend an amendment that distinguishes a habitable upper floor from an attic under the applicable gross-floor-area rules and requires plans to show how both dwellings were measured.

Give Neighbors Timely Access to Plans
In October, the Indy reported that Amherst had issued at least 40 ADU permits since adopting the new bylaw, including at least 12 for units with finished upper floors classified as attics. At Newell Court, delayed access to plans and the timing of an abutter’s appeal became part of the dispute. Please make approved plans, permit decisions, and floor-area calculations easy to find, and consider what timely notice the town can provide within state law.

Look at the Whole Lot When Considering Parking
When both dwellings are rented, residents may need more parking than the property can accommodate. That can add pressure on streets where curb parking is already limited. Amherst already requires a parking plan. State rules allow the town to require no additional parking for a protected ADU if any part of the lot is within half a mile of a qualifying transit stop, and at most one additional space otherwise. Please have the plans show how parking is arranged for both dwellings within those limits.

Stand Behind a Clear, Legally Defensible Local Rule
The Zoning Board of Appeals voted 5–0 to uphold the Newell Court abutter’s appeal. The plaintiffs who challenged that decision in Land Court also questioned whether the appeal was timely and identified nine other Amherst properties with similar ADU designs. Applicants, staff, and neighbors should be able to look at the same plans and understand which rules apply before construction starts.

Ask Beacon Hill for Rules That Fit a College Town
The state housing office published proposed revisions to its protected-use ADU regulations in September, and public comment closed Oct. 9. I’m asking the state to clarify how finished upper floors are counted and to work with college towns on the pressures that concentrated student rental demand can put on housing and parking. Through its separate Seasonal Communities framework, Massachusetts has already recognized that different housing markets can need different tools. College towns deserve that same kind of attention. A town’s ability to get a fair hearing should never depend on what it can afford to spend on a legal fight.

Please recommend a clear floor-area amendment to the Town Council and ask our legislative delegation and the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities to work with Amherst on reasonable local safeguards. I’d ask developers to be good neighbors, too. Show the full living area on the plans and seek approval under the rules that fit the building’s actual size and use.

Students need good places to live, and Amherst needs more homes. Clear rules will help us add those homes in a way that works for the people who build them, the people who rent them, and the people who live next door.

Ira Bryck

Ira Bryck is a resident of Amherst’s District 4.