The following column, part four in a series about accessory dwellings units (ADUs) and Town Meeting Article 43, was written by Mary Winstanley O’Connor of Arlington, an attorney and a member of the Boatrd of Assessors who tells why she supports the proposal.
This year, Arlington Town Meeting will again consider approving ADUs for certain properties and under certain zoning and building constraints. I am a supporter of this warrant article.
Today, people are living longer, and most seniors, if they are able, prefer to remain in their homes. Our children, when they graduate from college, are unlikely able to afford to buy a home in town.
I support ADUs because I believe that they are a means for allowing an aging parent to stay in his/her home or present an opportunity for a child to move an elderly parent into an ADU to provide care while the parent retains a sense of dignity by having his/her own small apartment or an opportunity to provide a child, who has graduated from college to remain in Arlington while he or she saves to purchase a home.
ADUs would be subject to all building, zoning and public health regulations.
ADUs would also have an impact on our residential real estate tax base. The addition of an ADU would be considered “new growth” and would be added to the tax levy limit. A city or town’s levy is constrained in that it can only be increased by a certain amount from year to year, the “levy limit,” so-called.
“New growth” allows a city or town to increase its levy limit each year by an amount based on the increased value of any new development, which would include ADUs and other growth in the real and personal property tax base that is not related to revaluation. The increase becomes part of the levy-limit base and as a result increases at the rate of 2.5 percent each year as the levy limit increases.
The assessors’ office learns of new growth for valuation purposes by regularly accessing the Inspectional Services Department website, which references building permits issued. The staff include the permit on the taxpayer’s property record card and an inspection is subsequently made of the addition.
The assessors’ office subsequently increases the assessed value of the property to reflect the increase in value resulting from the addition. That increase in value is new growth added to the tax base.
There is a positive financial component for the town resulting from new growth in increased building permit fees and increased taxes. New growth enables a city or town the ability to increase its levy limit, which can provide for budgeting flexibility.
The positive aspect of ADUs for homeowners is that it is about housing opportunities for family or rental income resources to assist residents, particularly seniors, with costs to maintain their homes, while ensuring that any development complies with zoning, building and health code regulations to address the concerns of abutters.
April 7: ADUs part 3: A family story
This opinion column was published Monday, May 24, 2021.
