To the Editor:

This year, the governor of Massachusetts signed a new bill into law that overrides every town in the commonwealth's zoning regarding ADUs (Additional/Accessory Dwelling Units). Every house in the commonwealth can now have an additional dwelling unit (house, cottage, guest house, etc.) up to 900 square feet on the same building lot as the primary house. The town you live in cannot do anything to prevent these as they are "by right" per the state government.

How would you feel if your neighbor built a 900 square foot secondary house next to you on a lot that was zoned for one house? You may not like or agree with it, but there is nothing you or the town can do about it. It's unfortunate that the state did this and didn't leave it up to the individual towns. The governor may have had good intentions on helping the housing shortage but in some towns, these may be built for other reasons than she intended. I believe that to be the case with our town.

Those of us who are lucky enough to live in Richmond can do something to at least reduce the density of buildings in our town before it is too late! I believe we should increase the minimum building lot size in the RA-C zone from 2.5 acres to 3 acres. Most of West Stockbridge requires 3 acres to build, and I believe we should as well. This won't impact any pre-existing building lots, just land that is subdivided in the future. We don't want building upon building. That's not why we live here.

We can also go one step further and increase the frontage of newly created building lots from the current 250 feet of frontage to 275 feet of frontage. It's a very small increase with a nice future appeal. Again, this won't impact any pre-existing building lots, just land that is subdivided in the future

By doing the two things above, we can help ensure our town maintains its rural character by keeping building density down slightly to compensate for the right to have an ADU on the property. Just imagine if a quarter of the town decided to have a detached ADU. The town would become very dense and lose the feel we all love.

We need to do something now before it's too late. As a 5th generation resident, I'm urging you to please voice your concerns at March 10's Planning Board's public hearing at the Town Hall. If you are unable to make it to the meeting and I get enough requests, I may start a petition for each of the changes above to help combat the density concerns. Unfortunately, we don't have much state owned and protected land as other towns.

There isn't much time left, so let's preserve what we love about our town while we can. Once it is too late and things are built, there is no going back.

James Shoemaker
Richmond, Mass.