Easing ‘in-law apartment’ rules

Change would make it easier to build accessory buildings in Scarborough, including in beachfront communities

SCARBOROUGH — If the argument against moving in your mother-in-law was always that it’s just too big a hassle under Scarborough zoning rules, you’re in luck – or not, as the case may be.

It’s been almost a decade since Scarborough began allowing the construction of accessory dwelling units, more popularly known as “in-law apartments.” Before that, if you wanted to build a room over the garage, or anywhere else within 75 feet of your home, it could not have “separate housekeeping.” That meant no kitchenette, no bathroom, no laundry room.

According to Town Planner Dan Bacon, when accessory units were introduced to Scarborough’s architectural landscape with a 2003 zoning change, there was fear that allowing the extra living quarters might somehow “impact of change the character of single-family neighborhoods.” So, standards for construction were made “fairly stringent.” Among other things, each accessory unit application was treated as a “special exception,” requiring review by the Zoning Board of Appeals.

But the zoning board has been in the habit of approving these applications – at a rate of “about 10-15” per year – with “little discussion or issues,” said Bacon. With that in mind, and with existing accessory units having failed to ravage the culture of the community, planning department staff held a focus group late last year with area builders and other residents “familiar [with] and interested in these standards.”

The end result, met with enthusiastic support at “first reading” by the Town Council Jan. 18, was a wholesale relaxing of rules.

“I love this. I think it’s great,” said Councilor Jessica Holbrook. “I think it’s a perfect step in the absolute right direction. A lot of families are looking at taking in a mother or a father, and a lot of families also are taking in kids coming back from college.”

“There’s some pretty major tweaking going on here,” said Council Chairman Ron Ahlquist. “It certainly reflects the times we live in, and I think that’s good.”

Making it easier to build an accessory unit, Holbrook said, would help the town achieve its goal of providing more affordable housing for middle-income families.

However, given the local economy, relaxed the rules may help certain other homeowners as well, particularly those who built accessory units before or after the 2003 zoning change without proper review.

“In many cases,” said Bacon, those units went undiscovered by the town until the owner tried to refinance the property. Those homeowners either had to come into compliance with the standards, or else forego the second or amended mortgages they had hoped to obtain.

“I suspect a number of those [people] may want to come back through our normal administrative process now and make those a lawful accessory unit,” said Town Manager Tom Hall.

What will constitute a lawful accessory unit could still change. The Planning Board will review the recommendations at a Jan. 30 meeting, sending them back to the council with any suggested changes as soon as Feb. 1. Public hearings will be held at both stages.

As drafted, the new rules still try to ensure that secondary units are truly accessory to the main house. They are not meant to be actual apartment units, Bacon said. Although nothing prevents the homeowner from charging rent for the space, or from renting to non-family members, occupancy remains limited to two people and the unit must share utilities – like power, water and sewer –with the main home. Also, each home may have no more than one accessory unit.

Still, if the proposed changes are adopted, accessory units would not require Zoning Board of Appeal approval. Because such construction would become a permitted use, accessory units would no longer have to be registered with the town. Also, they could be built on lots of less than 15,000 square feet, from which they remained banned after the 2003 zoning change.

That would introduce in-law apartments to Scarborough’s beachfront communities, like Higgins Beach, as well as to dense subdivisions like Eastern Village and Dunstan Crossing. A mandate that property owners always be present also has been cut, which makes it easier to add an accessory unit to a seasonal home.

Distance requirements added in 2007 out of fear that accessory units could be put in outbuildings, effectively creating two homes on one lot, also are up for review. Under the proposal, an outbuilding, such a barn, can be up to 100 feet from a home and still host an accessory unit, while the requirement that at least 50 percent of the outbuilding’s floor space be dedicated to new-unit living quarters has been eliminated.

The new rules also have scalability, meaning larger units than previously allowed can be added, so long as they remain proportionally smaller than the main house. Outside staircases also will now be permitted, so long as they are not visible from the street.