Pushback: Preserving open spaces — big and small

A small home in Greenfield.

A small home in Greenfield. PHOTO BY AL NORMAN

By AL NORMAN

Published: 09-17-2024 4:40 PM

On Wednesday evening, the Greenfield City Council will consider an update of the city’s Open Space Cluster Development (OSCD) zoning ordinance. This cluster development has been described as a way “to build more houses on less land.”

The open space update is cluttered with details, but its purposes include: 1. Encourage a less sprawling form of development that consumes less open land. 2. Encourage the permanent preservation of open space.

Open space is shrinking under development pressures. A state-funded Housing Plan reviewed Sept. 12 proposed that “Greenfield should plan for 475 new housing units over the next 10 years” as an achievable goal, and up to 800 new units as a more “aspirational goal,” plus 200 units now in the pipeline.

To meet the needs of 70% of our households — up to 100% of the area’s median income ($93,000/year) we need 375 new units by 2034. That’s an attainable goal of 37.5 new units a year over the next decade.

Some low-income tenants for subsidized apartments are drawn from a statewide pool, not just from local towns.

The number of dwelling units that can be clustered under the OSCD proposal is based the net acreage of a parcel after subtracting land with slopes, ponds, wetlands, roads, etc. The OSCD awards a “density bonus” for features like affordable or senior housing, and walking trails. All land not devoted to dwellings must be preserved in its natural condition. In Rural Residential lots, for example, 50% must remain open space. To qualify for OSCD, the area of a tract to be developed must be at least five contiguous acres.

“Most of Greenfield’s net growth in population is in the senior age bracket. Greenfield will add 1,400 people in the 65-plus age group over the next decade, while all other age groups are shrinking,” the Housing Plan also says. It recommends we speed up production of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) — those 900 square foot houses, which a new state law mandates “by right” for all municipalities. It also lifts the requirement that ADUs be “owner occupied.” This will reduce open space in all residential zones, and make it harder for seniors to “age in place.”

In the Aug. 14, 2024 HOME Magazine, in the Recorder, a builder of ADUs stated: “We’ve built a ton of ADUs to help people who want to have their parents move in on their property.” Those days are over. The new Affordable Housing Act makes it possible for landlords or developers to scoop up single-family homes, convert them to two or three family homes, add a detached ADU in the backyard, and hike all the rents. I see almost no pathway to ownership for low-income families using ADUs.

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Of the 8,146 housing units in Greenfield, 3,647 (44%) are renters. We can’t increase home ownership until our citizens have living wage jobs and low-interest loans to buy a starter home.

Because ADUs will soon be zoned “by right” in all Greenfield’s single residential zoning districts, our current special permit and “owner-occupied” requirements for detached ADUs will end. Unhappy neighbors just lost their appeal rights. The more we move towards “by right” housing, and eliminate “special permits,” the more we disempower neighbors to raise issues that threaten their property.

Many property owners may want to protect the little open space that they have, and will be unable to afford to build an ADU anyway. The author of the Housing Plan admitted last week: “It costs a lot of money to build” an ADU. The HOME Magazine article warned: “the price range to purchase a backyard ADU, including site work, ranges from $240,000 to $320,000 for a 600 to 800 s.f. home.” Only investors with deep pockets can afford to build an ADU.

Unless we adopt dimensional and lot size limits to preserve open space in all residential districts — the new cluster developments will “permanently preserve” open space, but people living in neighborhoods with large homes on small lots will see open space shrinking as ADUs pop up. We should imitate the Open Space ordinance requirement that residential lots preserve 50% open space. Inside the site plan review process, we can “reasonably regulate” land uses that permanently preserve the limited open space we have in denser neighborhoods in Greenfield. Cities and towns still have the right to “reasonably regulate” — within site plan reviews — the goal of permanently protecting small open spaces. We should also ban the use of ADUs for short-term (Airbnb) rentals.

We can attain housing production goals, without packing us in like canned sardines.

Al Norman’s Pushback column appears every first and third Wednesday of the month.