Douglas Planning Board moves to tighten ADU bylaw, weighs cap of one unit per lot

Planning Board · Meeting of July 22, 2026

Douglas Planning Board signals support for limiting accessory dwelling units to one per lot while directing staff to research a restricted special-permit pathway for a second. Town Planner John Bombaci and newly appointed Building Commissioner Eric Boland jointly identified two legal vulnerabilities in the existing ADU bylaw: a site plan approval requirement the state may view as impermissibly strict, and an uncapped provision allowing unlimited additional ADUs by special permit that Bombaci said could enable "a tiny village" on large parcels. The board reached a working consensus to remove site plan review for the first protected ADU and allow it by right, while Bombaci researches bylaws from other towns that permit one additional ADU subject to special-permit restrictions.

Member Mike DeRose argued for a clean one-unit cap: "I don't think we owe anybody anything to do more than the one." Boland also noted that the roughly 60 existing accessory apartments in town are not legally ADUs under state law, meaning current holders could apply for an ADU on top of their accessory apartment — a gap he and Bombaci said would be closed by converting those permits to ADU status administratively. The board separately voted unanimously to recommend the town not exercise its right of first refusal on a roughly three-acre landlocked parcel at 295 Southeast Main Street, and approved minutes from its May 13 and May 27 meetings.

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Source: the Planning Board meeting of July 22, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.