Letter | Classifying Finished Second Floor as Attic Violates Intent of ADU Bylaw

The following letter was sent to the Zoning Board of Appeals, Planning Board, Town Manager, and Town Planning Director on August 10, 2026.

I write to object to the request before you to approve a permit for a purported 900-square-foot protected-use accessory dwelling unit that also contains approximately 299 square feet of finished upper-level living space.

I support appropriately scaled ADUs. However, a unit with nearly 900 square feet on its main floor plus a permanently accessible, finished upper level is not meaningfully a 900-square-foot ADU. It is a roughly 1,200-square-foot dwelling being permitted without the owner-occupancy and other safeguards that Amherst applies to Local ADUs of that size.

Amherst’s bylaw defines Gross Floor Area as the area of all stories with Building-Code-compliant ceiling height, expressly including lofts and intermediate floored tiers, while excluding attics and similar spaces. The proposed upper level’s intended use—not merely its location beneath a roof—should control. Where a space contains finished bedrooms, bathroom facilities, closets, windows, heating, permanent stairs, and code-compliant ceiling height, it functions as year-round dwelling space, not as an attic for storage.

Treating such finished living space as excluded “attic” area makes the 900-square-foot cap illusory. It invites applicants to construct nearly 900 square feet below and add almost one-third more living area above, solely by keeping the upper level just below an arbitrary threshold. This reading defeats the bylaw’s stated objective of providing smaller units in existing residential neighborhoods.

Amherst intentionally distinguishes between protected ADUs of no more than 900 square feet and Local ADUs up to 1,200 square feet. The latter require owner occupancy. The board should not allow this distinction to be bypassed through a labeling convention that conflicts with the upper floor’s actual design and use. Accordingly, I respectfully urge the ZBA to overturn the permit decision or require the finished 299-square-foot upper level to be included in Gross Floor Area. If the applicant wishes to build a unit of approximately 1,200 square feet, it should be reviewed and regulated as a Local ADU under the applicable requirements.

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.