Warwick Planning Board & Agricultural Commission Minutes (revised)
September 12, 2024
Members present: Brad Compton, Sandy Renna, Kelly Buchanan
Alternate members present: Kady Woods
Members absent: John Bradford, Howard Mathison
Others present: None
Meeting in the Town Hall was called to order at 7:31 pm by Rotating Chair Kady Woods
Agenda was approved, voted unanimously.
The revised minutes of the July meeting were approved, voted unanimously.
Announcements & other info
- None
Review and sign plans
- Mary Neville Wall came to ask preliminary questions about subdividing her land so relatives could build houses. She has 4 abutting parcels. 37 ½ acres in Warwick, about 1400 feet of frontage in Warwick. Our zoning requires 2 acres and 300 feet of frontage, so this sounds like it could potentially be 4 lots total. The issues we see are how to get frontage back to the back lot and the fact that she would need a shared driveway. We’re not sure whether it’s possible that the ZBA could grant a variance for a shared driveway.
Old business
- Follow-up ADU bylaw. The 2024 Affordable Housing Act was recently signed into law. It makes several changes to ADUs that affect us:
- ADUs are now by-right in all single-family zoning districts. We may want a provision to clarify that denials by the Building Inspector go to the ZBA, though that’s pretty obvious
- The maximum size is 900 ft2
- Owner-occupancy requirements are prohibited. We can prohibit or restrict short-term rentals
- There may not be any “unreasonable restrictions”
- The law goes into full effect on Feb 2, 2025, though owner occupancy and unreasonable restrictions went into effect immediately
There will likely be a Special Town Meeting in mid-November, so we could try to get changes ready for that.
We’re not at all happy with the prohibition on owner-occupancy, as investors have been buying house
We’ll change by-law to say
- By-right, not Special Permit
- Maximum to 900 sq ft
- Remove owner-occupancy requirement
- Short-term rentals are permitted in either the main unit or ADU but not both
We think that covers it. Let’s put something in the October Newsletter. Kady will update the info sheet and Brad will post it on the town website. We’ll put it to bed at October 10 PB meeting. We’ll ask John to schedule a public hearing shortly after that.
New business and business not reasonably anticipated
- Discuss projects for the coming year
Meeting adjourned at 8:49 pm, voted unanimously.
Next meeting: Thursday, October 10, 2024 at 7:30 pm in the Warwick Town Hall, to be chaired by Kelly Buchanan.
October – Kelly
November – John
December – Howard
January – Brad
February – Kady
Submitted by Brad Compton, Secretary