Planning Board recommends by-right ADU bylaw to May Town Meeting

SUDBURY — February 26, 2025 — Sudbury Planning Board sends by-right ADU bylaw to May Town Meeting at the state's 900-square-foot floor. The board voted 4-0 Wednesday to recommend a rewritten Section 5500 that complies with the 2024 Affordable Homes Act, replacing the current 850-square-foot, special-permit regime with by-right permitting up to 900 square feet or 50 percent of the primary dwelling. Zoning Board of Appeals Chair John Reardon of 12 Pendleton Road and Ralph Tyler of 1 Deacon Lane urged a 1,100- to 1,200-square-foot cap and objected to the requirement that detached units be "architecturally harmonious" with the primary dwelling, with Reardon calling the word "must" "a kind of a straitjacket." Chair Stephen Garvin, calling in from a car, defended both the size and the design standard: "If the state wants to correct that, let them come in and correct it." Member Anuraj Shah, an architect, said harmony "does not need to be architecturally identical." Chair Garvin joined late; Vice-Chair John Sugrue ran the hearing alongside members Shah and Julie Zelermyer Perlman.