Large homes may dot the town’s landscape, but Needham residents are small-house curious. More than 50 people attended a talk at the Needham Free Public Library on May 20 to learn how to build an Accessory Dwelling Unit. Recent changes to state law, which were incorporated into the town’s bylaws at Town Meeting earlier this month, give property owners the right to build a second residential unit in a wide range of situations that were previously banned by town bylaw. The additional units can be up to half the square footage of the primary residence or 900 square feet — whichever is smaller.
The event was sponsored by the Needham Housing Coalition, the Charles River Regional Chamber, Progressive Needham, the League of Women Voters Needham and Green Needham. Currently, the 16 ADUs in town are all attached to the primary structures, but the new law allows detached units.
“It can be attached or inside the principal dwelling, or it can be detached,” said Paula Dickerman of the Needham Housing Coalition. “The town benefits because we have more housing options.”
Andrew McKinney of Fenton Road built an attached ADU for his mother in 2022. “We wanted to have a house that my mom could live in with us but also maintain some independence,” he said. “It’s a great option for people who don’t want or need to be in some form of senior housing.” The unit blends into the original structure and is not evident from the exterior.
“Also the rental potential is huge,” McKinney said. Current state law allows rentals to people with or without family connections, and it no longer requires the owner to occupy either unit.
“The state is trying to make it very clear that they like ADUs and they want to make them happen,” said Oscar Mertz of the Planning Board. Out of 1,600 applications for construction of ADUs across the commonwealth, he said, 1,227 were approved. The law, signed by Governor Maura Healey on Aug. 6, 2024, seeks to add housing units and — unlike the MBTA Communities Act which applies only to parts of eastern and central Massachusetts — it reaches all 351 Bay State towns and cities.
Mertz said the state law does not prohibit ADUs with two bedrooms, and although the Needham bylaw has no parking requirements, state law allows requiring one additional parking space in some parts of the town.
Jim Sullivan, Needham’s building commissioner, explained an ADU requires separately metered electric and water and has to meet current energy codes and building codes. Mertz said the ADU also has to meet stormwater and wetland restrictions and requires a separate entrance and address.
Rick Leland, a builder and owner of Remodeling Remedies who was part of the panel, said in his experience, meeting zoning requirements is the hardest part of the project. “Speaking to the building commissioner and looking at the plot plans should be No. 1 on your list,” he said.
Mertz told the Observer at minimum, construction must be set back by 12 feet from the side property line, but there are exceptions. A garage with a roof that is no higher than 15 feet only needs a 5-foot’ setback to be converted to an ADU. Also, preexisting structures that are “nonconforming” or closer to the property line than current setbacks, can be rebuilt in the same place. “You can redo the nonconforming structure,” Mertz said, “but you need to preserve at least half of it.”
Leland estimated an attached ADU would take about 12 weeks to build and a detached unit would take 16-20 weeks of actual construction. When asked to estimate the cost of an ADU, he said, “You can plan to spend in the mid $300s to the upper $300s” — or up to about $400,000.
Amy Wortzman, vice president of community outreach for Eastern Bank, was also part of the panel. She said many people trying to finance an ADU are well into retirement. “Maybe you are so far into your life, you don’t even have credit,” she said, sharing strategies for obtaining a loan and establishing credit.
Sullivan pointed out that if the goal is to build a living space for a parent or child in the basement or over the garage in an existing part of the house, an ADU may not even be needed. Construction permits would still be required, but the renovations would be much less expensive.
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