[0:00] Okay, everyone. Um,
[0:03] we got it and it was
[0:06] something as stupidly simple as a cable
[0:09] that is somehow loose.
[0:13] So, when our IT department adjusted this
[0:17] cable, it worked. Had nothing to do with
[0:20] the technology at all.
[0:25] Um, okay. But anyway, here we are. Uh,
[0:29] I'll introduce everybody. My name is
[0:31] Jason Shaw. I'm the chairman of the
[0:33] Rockport Planning Board. And to your
[0:36] right, my left, is the vice chairman,
[0:39] Tom Mikas. To my right, is Bob Simmons,
[0:42] planning board member. To his right is
[0:45] Peter Cutner. And to his right is our
[0:49] town planner, um, Betsy Wear.
[0:53] So
[0:55] we're here uh for an information session
[0:58] on seasonal communities
[1:01] and
[1:04] the reason that u we're doing this is not a required meeting. We've
[1:10] already had our public hearing,
[1:12] but as is often
[1:16] the public hearings and then they come
[1:18] to town meeting and say, "Well, what is this all about or why do I not
[1:22] know about that?" So, try to we've done
[1:26] this before with other projects and it
[1:29] seems to work to just have an informal
[1:32] information session so you all can um
[1:36] ask questions. I'm going to just go
[1:38] through this. It's not a very long
[1:40] PowerPoint at all. I'm going to go
[1:42] through it and then we have a podium up
[1:45] there if you want to get up there to ask
[1:46] a question. We have fans going on here
[1:49] because this room is supposedly 84
[1:52] degrees. Uh we opened a window, but
[1:57] trying to talk from your seated position
[2:00] is going to be a challenge for everyone
[2:01] to hear you with the fans going. So, it
[2:03] would be good if you could get up there
[2:05] and use the microphone. Um, so what are
[2:08] we doing today? Uh,
[2:11] all right, next slide. Okay,
[2:15] what is a, uh, seasonal community?
[2:19] We're going to answer your questions,
[2:21] tell you what a seasonal community
[2:23] designation is, who's received the
[2:25] designation, we have, how did we
[2:28] qualify, and what next? If the
[2:30] designation is approved at town meeting,
[2:33] that's kind of the next step here. We're
[2:36] at that point now where the Executive
[2:39] Office of Housing and Livable
[2:41] Communities has given the town of
[2:43] Rockport a seasonal community
[2:45] designation,
[2:47] but that is not effective until that is
[2:51] approved at town meeting by a simple
[2:54] majority vote. So, that's where we are.
[2:57] We're up to that point.
[3:00] And then we'll go over what the time
[3:02] frame is after the designation to do
[3:04] some things. What are some of the
[3:06] benefits that come with a seasonal
[3:08] community designation?
[3:10] And how does this tie into Rockport's
[3:14] accessory dwelling unit bylaw? And then
[3:18] the last uh question is, are we stuck
[3:21] forever with the designation? And um no,
[3:24] the answer to that is no. So no one no
[3:27] one has to worry about that. Okay. So
[3:30] what is a seasonal community
[3:31] designation? It was established by a
[3:34] 2024 Massachusetts general law
[3:37] and Massachusetts as you know has been
[3:41] really I don't want to use the word
[3:43] desperately but I think I will trying to
[3:46] bring down the cost of housing in the
[3:48] Commonwealth because it's very high
[3:51] especially in the eastern part of the
[3:54] state. So, how they're doing that is
[3:56] they've come up with a bunch of zoning
[3:59] tools that they want local
[4:01] municipalities to adopt that will help
[4:03] them be more flexible in the zoning that
[4:07] allows housing that is maybe less than
[4:11] your traditional,
[4:13] you know, cookie cutter housing. And um
[4:16] so
[4:18] here because of Rock, as we know,
[4:20] Rockport is a is a community that has a
[4:23] big influx of people in the summer. Um
[4:27] and when the summer's over, the
[4:30] population goes down. Housing is
[4:32] extremely expensive here. For anybody
[4:34] who looks at any kind of housing
[4:37] transactions, you'll realize that the h
[4:39] the cost of housing in Rockport is is
[4:42] very is one of the highest costs outside
[4:45] of the Boston metro area. So, here are
[4:48] some of the factors that the Executive
[4:50] Office of Housing and Livable
[4:52] Communities looked at when they decided
[4:54] to grant Rockport a seasonal communities
[4:58] designation.
[5:00] We have a
[5:02] substantial variation in seasonal
[5:04] employment. We have a high a high rate
[5:07] of short-term rentals in relation to
[5:09] overall housing. We have a significant
[5:12] population increase in seasonal
[5:14] visitors. And we have significant
[5:18] disparities between the area median
[5:20] income and income needed to buy a home
[5:23] in Rockport.
[5:25] And lastly, the percentage of housing
[5:29] used for seasonal, occasional, or
[5:31] recreational use or otherwise not a
[5:34] primary residence by the owner is high
[5:38] in Rockport. That's why we say like
[5:41] Rockport because these really all apply.
[5:43] In fact, if you look at a a map of the
[5:47] areas that fit the this description,
[5:51] most of them are on Cape Cod in that
[5:54] area. And those are all seasonal
[5:57] communities. The whole Cape Cod uh
[6:00] peninsula is a seasonal community
[6:02] essentially. The other area of seasonal
[6:05] communities is in the western part of
[6:07] the state in the Birkars. There are some
[6:10] towns there that have that designation.
[6:13] And then you see way up in the northeast
[6:15] corner, one community that meets all
[6:18] these criteria. It's Rockport. The one,
[6:22] not even Gloucester, but Rockport. So
[6:25] we'll go to the next uh slide kind of go
[6:28] through this. 43 towns has received the
[6:31] seasonal community designation and
[6:33] including three entire county, Dukes
[6:35] County, Nantucket County, Berkshire
[6:37] County. Um and others have received it
[6:41] because they've asked for it and we're
[6:44] one of the ones that have asked for it.
[6:45] They didn't automatically grant it to
[6:47] us, but that's okay. It wouldn't it was
[6:49] very easy to get for Rockport.
[6:53] Um, we we received the designation from
[6:56] the Executive Office of Housing and
[6:57] Livable Communities on February 18. And
[7:01] there it shows the percentages, the next
[7:04] two uh items of why the EOHLC granted it
[7:10] to Rockport because of those percentage
[7:12] numbers that are shown on your screen.
[7:15] And as I mentioned earlier at the
[7:17] beginning that to retain this
[7:19] designation,
[7:21] we must approve at a town meeting.
[7:25] All right.
[7:26] >> Jason.
[7:28] >> Yes.
[7:29] >> On that previous slide, those two
[7:32] percentages,
[7:34] are they actuals for Rockport or is that
[7:36] just the threshold?
[7:37] >> No, that's for Rockport. Those are
[7:39] Rockport's percentages. And those are
[7:41] the two percentages that the executive
[7:45] office of housing and livable
[7:47] communities in their letter to us
[7:50] approving it for Rockport. Um those are
[7:53] the two percentages they cited in their
[7:55] letter.
[7:57] So,
[7:59] this is this next part is kind of
[8:02] important and people need to listen to
[8:03] what I'm saying carefully because it we
[8:06] found at our town at the uh public
[8:08] hearing that there was some confusion
[8:10] and I'm not blaming anybody. It was just
[8:13] it was confusing and we realized there
[8:15] was some confusion.
[8:18] The first thing is um
[8:22] if we want to retain the seasonal
[8:24] communities designation, what must we do
[8:28] as a town?
[8:31] And then there's another part to that
[8:34] which is what
[8:37] can we do as a town but is not required.
[8:40] very important to understand that
[8:43] distinction between the two because what
[8:45] must what we must do is actually
[8:48] relatively small compared to what we can
[8:52] do. So there are a lot of topics here
[8:54] that I know people are going to want to
[8:56] talk about like affordable housing and
[8:58] how do we do that and everything that's
[9:01] for another day because that's one of
[9:04] the things that we can do but we don't
[9:08] have to do. So they they'll require
[9:11] their own zoning laws or bylaws or
[9:15] general bylaws depending on what it is.
[9:17] So here are the two things we must do.
[9:20] We must create zoning that allows for
[9:23] what um for tiny housing as of right in
[9:28] a single family residential district.
[9:30] And I'll show you some pictures of tiny
[9:32] housing in a in a moment.
[9:35] A tiny house is a detached house that is
[9:38] the principal dwelling on a lot and is
[9:40] not more than 400 square feet of floor
[9:43] area. So that's pretty small, but people
[9:47] can live in them and live well.
[9:50] uh under this tiny housing
[9:55] provision which we have not which has
[9:56] not yet been drafted and will not be
[9:59] drafted until this seasonal communities
[10:03] designation is approved and then we have
[10:06] 24 months to get it passed. So it's not
[10:09] anything that's going to happen as of
[10:12] April 12th after town meeting. uh tying
[10:15] tiny housing must be year round and it
[10:18] must comply obviously with state and
[10:20] local building codes. You have to have a
[10:22] bathroom. Okay, so that's one of the
[10:25] things. The second thing that we must
[10:27] do, again this is within 24 months, is
[10:30] we must create zoning that allows for
[10:34] mandatory year round residences,
[10:38] i.e. Under the law, it says no fewer
[10:40] than 10 months occupancy on undersized
[10:43] lots. Now, what the state defines as an
[10:47] undersized lot is at a lot that's at
[10:51] least 10,000 square feet or 25% of the
[10:55] minimum lot size of the residential lot
[10:58] area where the where the resident is
[11:01] located, whichever is greater. We
[11:03] already have quite a few lots that meet
[11:06] this description. in town. We already
[11:09] have them. But just to let you know, we
[11:11] must we must create zoning that allows
[11:15] for
[11:17] these they call undersized lots that
[11:20] allows for these lots in the town.
[11:25] All right, here's some here's some tiny
[11:27] houses
[11:29] thanks to our architect members.
[11:34] Pretty nice, actually. I kind of like
[11:36] them. Um, think of how much less
[11:38] cleaning you'll have to do. Um,
[11:43] anyway, they're all examples of tiny
[11:45] houses all over the
[11:48] >> the country. All over the country. Yeah.
[11:50] And you can see the variation
[11:53] that uh they have.
[11:57] So,
[11:59] as I mentioned earlier, Rockport must
[12:01] adopt these two zoning provisions at the
[12:03] town meeting within 24 months from the
[12:05] designation if it's approved on April
[12:09] 11th.
[12:13] Now,
[12:14] here are um here are the things that we
[12:19] could do that could be done, but they
[12:23] don't have to be done. And there's no
[12:25] time limit on when they can be done
[12:27] either. There's no 20 the 24 months only
[12:31] applies to those first two
[12:34] things we talked about, tiny houses and
[12:36] undersized lots.
[12:38] Okay, these are these are what are in
[12:41] the law. It's what's in the
[12:44] regulations. And I can tell you right
[12:46] now that even for the state, these this
[12:51] is a work in progress for them. I mean,
[12:53] they don't really have these things all
[12:56] fleshed out, but they have enough to
[12:58] tell you that these are some options you
[13:01] might want to take. Okay. First of all,
[13:03] creation of a housing trust fund for
[13:05] affordable housing,
[13:07] ability to create a preference for
[13:10] seasonal community essential employees.
[13:13] And what that means are people who work
[13:16] in, you know, emergency services and
[13:18] other services in the town who are
[13:21] really essential to the operation of the
[13:23] town, essential to, you know, health and
[13:26] safety of the town. You can you could we
[13:31] could create um housing that is where
[13:36] they're preferential.
[13:38] If you want to know the details here are the regulations. You're welcome
[13:43] to come read them, but I'm not going to
[13:45] get into it now because that'll be a
[13:47] long meeting. Okay, this is an
[13:49] interesting one. Allow for the creation
[13:51] and preservation of artist housing.
[13:54] for a household with at least
[13:56] one person who produces or supports
[13:58] artistic and literary activities. That's
[14:01] kind of interesting. So certainly for
[14:05] Rockport, which has a history of being
[14:08] an artist colony many years ago, uh this
[14:12] is I think it's kind of interesting that
[14:15] it could be promoted again
[14:19] and maybe people who have sons or
[14:21] daughters who are artists who might want
[14:22] to live here, they might be able to have
[14:25] housing for not much money. Who knows?
[14:28] So,
[14:29] and then two, the last two are allow for
[14:32] the development of a comprehensive
[14:34] housing needs assessment. You could do
[14:36] it up to twice annually.
[14:39] Uh, and there, by the way, there's
[14:40] supposedly some money for this stuff,
[14:42] too, but again, it's not
[14:45] I I don't know the details. And then the
[14:48] other the last thing which I think
[14:49] everybody
[14:51] perhaps everybody in this room would be
[14:53] interested in is that raise the property
[14:56] tax exemption for yearround residents.
[14:59] Well, that's that would be interesting.
[15:02] In other words, like some communities I
[15:04] know in other states do that. If you're
[15:06] a year- round resident, you pay one
[15:08] level of property tax and if you're not,
[15:12] you pay a different level, which is
[15:15] interesting. So
[15:19] the other thing that this will do
[15:23] this um
[15:26] uh commun uh seasonal communities law is
[15:28] that it'll help us fix a hole in our
[15:33] accessory dwelling unit bylaw which has
[15:36] actually been on the books since 2022
[15:39] when it was adopted.
[15:42] We had a minimum rental period in that
[15:44] bylaw of six months. And the idea there
[15:48] was to prevent people building ADUs or
[15:53] converting garages into accessory
[15:55] dwelling units and simply renting them
[15:57] out as short-term rentals over the
[15:59] summer. So, we put a six-month minimum
[16:02] in it. It was debated at that time what
[16:05] the minimum should be. 6 months won out.
[16:10] the a year was proposed, but that didn't
[16:12] it didn't resonate with the voters. So,
[16:15] we had we had six months.
[16:17] In 2024, the Commonwealth implemented
[16:20] its own statewide protected ADU law and
[16:26] it allowed for it said that you Rockport
[16:29] and all the other towns in in the U
[16:32] state needed to allow ADUs in all
[16:35] residential districts, which we hadn't
[16:38] before that. Before that, I was in
[16:40] certain already somewhat dense
[16:43] residential districts, we allowed ADUs,
[16:45] and that was in the 2022 law. But now,
[16:48] they've said you got to allow them
[16:49] everywhere. So, right now, they're
[16:51] allowed everywhere in the town, whether
[16:53] you have a if you have the setbacks and
[16:55] everything and have the size ADU,
[16:59] uh, you can put it in any zoning
[17:01] district in the town.
[17:03] So
[17:06] we in 2025 based on what the
[17:08] Commonwealth did and its protected ADU
[17:10] law, we readopted our ADU law
[17:15] uh to permit ADUs in all districts and
[17:20] we readted our sixmonth
[17:24] uh minimum rental period. Sounds like
[17:28] great. I mean, you're promoting um
[17:31] longer rentals. You're trying to get
[17:33] away from short-term rentals. You think
[17:35] that that would be good, but no. The
[17:38] attorney general came back and said,
[17:40] "Uh,
[17:42] we think that's an unreasonable
[17:43] restriction on the
[17:46] ADU.
[17:49] We're going to make it so you have a
[17:51] minimum rental period of what our law
[17:55] says, which is 31 days.
[17:58] So, don't try to figure this out because
[18:01] we were trying to encourage longer
[18:05] occupancy of ADUs and the and the
[18:09] attorney general said, "No, you're
[18:11] unreasonably restricting ADUs and you can only have a 31day
[18:19] uh minimum." But they said, and we've
[18:23] confirmed this with them, if you get the
[18:27] seasonal communities designation, we
[18:30] accept that you can reinstate
[18:33] the sixmonth
[18:35] minimum rental period that you had
[18:36] before. So that's one of the incentives
[18:40] for
[18:42] the town to adopt this. A secondary
[18:45] incentive is that we are then allowed to
[18:48] bring back at least six month uh in
[18:52] terms of a rental period and
[18:57] Oh yeah.
[19:00] So
[19:02] it's this is a very flexible
[19:04] designation. If we accept it,
[19:07] we can at town meeting revoke it. it's
[19:10] not working out, we can revoke it and no
[19:13] penalty, maybe lo maybe losing some
[19:16] money, who knows, grants, if we reject
[19:19] it
[19:20] at the town meeting coming up, it can be
[19:24] um submitted later for a vote and we
[19:26] don't need to go back to the
[19:29] uh executive office of housing and
[19:32] livable communities and get a new
[19:33] designation. The designation that
[19:36] they've issued stands. we would just
[19:38] have to put it up for another vote at
[19:40] town meeting.
[19:42] And lastly, they the state can revoke
[19:47] the designation if we don't comply with
[19:51] this 24month
[19:53] uh period where we need to adopt these
[19:55] two provisions or if we're just not
[19:58] really doing anything to permit new
[20:00] residential units. uh they can come in,
[20:03] you know, look at what we're what we
[20:05] haven't done and say, uh, you know,
[20:06] we're going to revoke our designation.
[20:08] But those
[20:11] that's pretty much it. Okay. Thank you.
[20:15] Um, so we'll open it up for questions.
[20:19] I'm not I'm going to let other me board
[20:22] members answer questions and also Betsy.
[20:25] Um, if you want to ask a question. Oh,
[20:29] we see have someone already. Great. And
[20:33] um
[20:34] please just state your name and address
[20:37] and try to talk in the mic because
[20:40] >> Can you hear me?
[20:41] >> Maybe we Hey, Tom, could we turn that
[20:43] fan off
[20:44] >> because I I'm looking at the thermometer
[20:46] there and I can see that the temperature
[20:48] has dropped in this room from from the
[20:50] 84 degrees that it was before. So,
[20:53] >> it's about 52 in that corner over there.
[20:57] >> Can you hear me? You'll keep you'll stay
[20:58] awake.
[20:59] >> No.
[21:00] >> Get closer.
[21:01] >> Yeah. Bring it real close.
[21:02] >> Yes. Bring it real close.
[21:03] >> All right. Can you hear me? Is that
[21:06] better?
[21:06] >> Yes.
[21:06] >> Yeah. A little bit better.
[21:08] >> Um just a couple of
[21:09] >> Yeah. I mean, we opened it because it
[21:10] was boiling hot in here. Um I It's kind
[21:14] of hard to close. It's a heavy window.
[21:16] >> Maybe some guy can or strong gal can get
[21:20] up there.
[21:22] >> You have to lift it up to get You have
[21:24] to lift it up.
[21:27] Okay. P1 at team.
[21:28] >> There you go.
[21:33] » All right. If it gets too hot,
[21:37] » there's there just a couple things. One is I used to live in Charletown. I
[21:41] had a house that was um
[21:43] >> I'm going to close this. Okay. No one
[21:45] needs to see this,
[21:46] >> right?
[21:47] >> Okay. Go ahead. Um, my house had a a
[21:51] small footprint and it was one of those
[21:54] typical brick row houses in Charles Town
[21:56] that's small. So, I used to joke that it
[21:59] was um two rooms and a ladder going up
[22:02] three floors. Um, but the footprint was
[22:06] um just it was 500 square feet. So, um
[22:09] what I'd s I don't know if the it just
[22:12] got into the language this way, but the
[22:14] minimum it really has to be constrained
[22:16] to 400 ft. If that could be two stories,
[22:19] I think you've got you're you're in
[22:21] business with something that actually is
[22:22] more flexible. And there u most of the
[22:25] images that you had there were two of
[22:27] them that were single floor and the rest
[22:28] of them were either two or three floors.
[22:30] >> Um I would feed that back to the state
[22:33] and see if you can get that folded in
[22:34] because it will make it um
[22:36] >> it'll make it more space for people and
[22:39] it's definitely livable. Um the other
[22:42] the next point was um for artist spaces
[22:45] you need a living space and you also
[22:46] need a um a working space. So when I was
[22:49] thinking about this I thought I could
[22:51] have a tiny house and then I could get
[22:52] one of those you know boat houses which
[22:55] are you know boat house kits and then
[22:57] make that into a studio and attach it or
[23:01] you know have it close by. Um that's it.
[23:04] I really am very glad to see the
[23:06] possibility of artist space. at the
[23:08] cultural council we've been talking
[23:09] about. Where can we find it? It's the
[23:11] top on the list. We did a survey of
[23:14] artisan who you were interested had
[23:16] gotten grants and from the cultural
[23:18] council and that was the top one. So,
[23:21] thank you.
[23:22] >> Great. Now, these are these are good
[23:24] points. Um, and once this CEO
[23:29] community's designation is approved,
[23:31] assuming it's going to be, working on
[23:35] the points that you brought up would be
[23:37] the next step.
[23:39] >> I'd be happy to help.
[23:41] >> Great. Thank you so much.
[23:42] >> Can I add something to that?
[23:44] >> Yeah, go ahead, Betsy. Go ahead.
[23:46] >> Um, the tiny house, the first floor
[23:50] footprint is 400 square ft. the it
[23:54] doesn't it's exclusive of loft space.
[23:57] So, I'm not sure how they define loft
[23:59] space. Yeah. But I think there's
[24:01] probably a fair amount of wiggle room.
[24:03] Plus, um they the state executive office
[24:08] of housing and livable communities is
[24:10] working on a draft bylaw for tiny houses
[24:15] and they've stated that they are going
[24:17] to be a little flexible. So, um I think
[24:21] that um the images that were shown, some
[24:24] of them were probably
[24:27] 400 square ft exclusive of the loft
[24:30] space. Um some of them were obviously a
[24:32] little bit bigger. I'm ready to move
[24:34] into one. Um but in any case um the
[24:38] state as as Jason said is working on um
[24:44] some drafting and they're still trying
[24:47] to kind of ek out some of the details.
[24:49] So I I think as long as we kind of watch
[24:52] what's going on, there should be some
[24:55] flexibility.
[24:59] » Do I hold the button?
[25:00] >> Go ahead. Is it Are you on? It's green.
[25:03] If it's green, you're on. Okay.
[25:05] >> U Ben Hughes, 147 Main Street. I was
[25:08] just a little confused about the two
[25:09] mandatory requirements, the ADU and then
[25:12] the um
[25:14] the second one. So the ADU said
[25:18] I mean, excuse me, the Chinese house
[25:20] designation was if it was a primary
[25:22] residence on a lot. So it's a lot with
[25:24] no housing.
[25:26] >> It's that's it's completely separate
[25:28] from an ADU.
[25:29] >> Yeah. That
[25:32] >> they're two different animals, right?
[25:33] with no living space on it at the time.
[25:36] And is it for a
[25:37] >> No,
[25:40] >> we we still we still need to develop the
[25:43] zoning rules and regulations for the
[25:46] tiny houses. So, we may decide that on a
[25:49] quarter acre lot, you can have three
[25:52] tiny houses, for example,
[25:54] >> maybe they're condos.
[25:55] >> Yeah.
[25:56] um we we have to establish all those
[25:59] regulations, but the tiny house right
[26:01] now is kind of limited to this 400 plus
[26:03] loft space area. An ADU on the other
[26:07] hand requires that there's a primary
[26:09] dwelling already on the lot.
[26:11] >> Okay?
[26:12] >> And then that ADU can be um up to 900
[26:16] square ft, but
[26:18] >> a maximum of half of the uh principal
[26:21] dwelling unit space. So if you have a
[26:24] >> a 1500 foot house, it can only be 750
[26:28] ft². But but that is a se a separate set
[26:32] of rules. Yeah.
[26:33] >> Sure. And just one other quick point of
[26:35] information is we qualified for the um
[26:39] seasonal designation by the fact that
[26:41] our short-term rental
[26:44] percentage was 3.25%. Or was that the
[26:47] actual for Rockport or was that the sort
[26:49] of minimum?
[26:50] >> Oh, that's Rockport.
[26:51] >> Okay. And and do I mean is that like
[26:54] Airbnb types or does that include like
[26:56] hotels and things too or
[26:58] >> uh I they say short-term rentals that
[27:01] generally means like an Airbnb type
[27:03] thing.
[27:04] >> Okay. Yeah.
[27:04] >> So if somebody already has like a garage
[27:07] of apartment that's rented out
[27:09] seasonally or by the week that's already
[27:11] in that percentage
[27:14] >> probably.
[27:15] >> Yeah. I mean that's how they calculated.
[27:17] Basically, how they figured it out is
[27:19] they the state collects
[27:22] excise tax on all short-term rentals. If
[27:25] you have a short-term rental, you have
[27:26] to register it.
[27:28] >> So, they know how many legal ones at
[27:31] least that are in the town of Rockport
[27:33] because they collect the tax and they
[27:34] know
[27:35] >> the number of units.
[27:37] >> But, as far as you know, that doesn't
[27:38] include the ins or um
[27:40] >> No, no, that does not it does not
[27:42] >> that does not does not include ins.
[27:44] >> Yeah. Okay. And these are these are
[27:45] conservative estimates too. Betsy could
[27:48] talk a little bit more about that maybe,
[27:50] but um this is information gathered from
[27:54] four or five different sources including
[27:55] the US census, local tax data, all kinds
[27:59] of things. Uh especially for the houses that are um occasionally
[28:06] used. In other words, they're claiming
[28:09] their houses in Florida and they have a
[28:11] second house here. So it's not it's not
[28:14] counted. Um so there's a fair amount of
[28:17] those in town as we all know. Um so the
[28:20] numbers are the percentages are likely a
[28:23] fair bit higher actually than these uh
[28:26] the 16% that you saw on the screen.
[28:29] >> Okay. Hi.
[28:30] >> Hi. Uh Paul Bryant, five Avenue. Uh just
[28:33] a quick question for clarification. Uh
[28:36] the second requirement is for undersized
[28:39] lots. Uh that would be for existing lots
[28:42] in Rockport. Would that also be for
[28:45] future development? If there's uh a
[28:48] subdivision being created, will they be
[28:50] able to uh h uh at that point create a
[28:54] large number of undersized lots?
[28:56] >> Um yeah, I don't think that there's uh
[28:59] it doesn't just talk about existing
[29:00] lots. It talks about lots that would
[29:03] meet that criteria that could be
[29:05] created. So basically from this point on
[29:08] the de facto uh zoning would uh across
[29:12] town would be 10,000 square foot for uh
[29:17] as for residential.
[29:18] >> Well okay we we haven't done the zoning
[29:20] for that yet. And so there could be
[29:23] areas of the town where undersized lots
[29:26] are allowed and other areas where
[29:29] they're not allowed.
[29:30] >> But that that comes later. We have to do that.
[29:35] According according to this, it's
[29:36] required, but it's not required across
[29:38] the whole town. Required
[29:40] >> just said required, but not across the
[29:43] whole town. Doesn't mean we have to do
[29:44] it across every zoning district in the
[29:46] town if that's what you're asking.
[29:49] >> Okay. Just uh just trying to get a
[29:51] better idea.
[29:51] >> No, understood. Yeah.
[29:52] >> Yeah. Yeah. The idea of it's it's
[29:55] future. Everything's future future ADUs,
[29:58] future tiny houses.
[30:00] >> And then Yeah. We can normally we would
[30:03] not be able to create a lot that's uh
[30:05] >> smaller than what's our current zoning
[30:08] for one unit I think 5,000 square ft but
[30:11] now we might be able to create lots that
[30:13] are smaller potential
[30:15] >> I'm all for teeny houses I just want a
[30:16] little clarification thank you
[30:19] >> so we should add that there's also
[30:20] minimum frontage
[30:21] >> right there there there are other things
[30:24] in that to your point sir there are
[30:27] other things in that
[30:29] in their framework for such a law that
[30:33] make it easier to create an what they
[30:36] call an undersized lot because the the
[30:39] setbacks are less than would necessarily
[30:43] be applied and the frontage I think it's
[30:45] like 20 feet or something is the
[30:47] frontage I just looked at it recently
[30:49] but you know again
[30:52] once we sit down and start talking about
[30:55] developing zoning that allows these
[30:58] things that's where I we get into the
[31:01] details about where and how much and all
[31:05] that stuff.
[31:06] >> I I would add I think originally they had hopes of the 10,000 square ft
[31:13] lot being much smaller, but they
[31:15] realized a lot of towns have septic
[31:17] systems only and would require a certain
[31:20] area for the septic systems. So, they
[31:23] upped they upped the number and they're
[31:25] working on those details. That may
[31:27] change in the future.
[31:31] Hi.
[31:32] >> Hi. My name is Suzanne. I live on Twin
[31:34] Light Circle.
[31:35] >> Suzanne
[31:36] >> Deore.
[31:37] >> Okay. And where? I'm sorry I couldn't
[31:38] hear you.
[31:39] >> Twin Light Circle.
[31:40] Yes.
[31:41] >> Listen to the mic.
[31:42] >> Oh, sorry.
[31:43] >> You can hold it up if you want. I mean,
[31:45] >> okay. Um, so my question is a little bit
[31:49] um just regarding the economic impact to
[31:52] the town and small like local businesses
[31:56] with this. Um, I think it's super great
[31:58] to provide more affordable housing for
[32:01] sure around the area, especially
[32:03] Rockport, but
[32:05] um, a lot of the I guess economic like
[32:10] prosperity for the town is coming from
[32:11] tourism and with I guess putting
[32:15] restrictions on ADU for short-term
[32:18] rentals and taking away possibly some
[32:20] opportunities for different other
[32:22] short-term rentals. Um it will lessen
[32:25] the amount of tourists that come to the
[32:26] area and since our like economic system
[32:31] in Rockport is so dependent on the
[32:34] tourism and travelers here, do you think
[32:36] there would be any impact on the like
[32:39] what the town can provide for the
[32:41] community members if that shifts?
[32:46] >> All right, let me see if I understand
[32:47] what your question is. Are are you
[32:50] asking whether
[32:52] >> I'm asking if there's less tourists to
[32:54] Rockport, but we have more year-round um
[32:58] community members, what kind of economic
[33:00] impact that's going to have long term on
[33:01] Rockport? Because a lot of the goods and
[33:04] services that people from Rockport are
[33:06] receiving now are not in in the town.
[33:08] So, they are going into Gloucester or
[33:10] surrounding areas to purchase things.
[33:13] And if you think that would change by
[33:17] putting um more year-round
[33:20] people living in Rockport, I
[33:21] >> mean, if we if we if in the future more
[33:24] restrictions
[33:25] >> restricting would having less tourists
[33:27] to the area cause more harm than more
[33:31] year-round residents.
[33:32] >> Um does anybody want I mean I have some
[33:35] thoughts on that. Anybody else want to
[33:37] answer that? Try to answer that.
[33:38] >> Well, just just a couple couple
[33:40] thoughts. um you're going to you're
[33:43] going to essentially with with this ADU
[33:47] uh six-month lease cap, you're going to cap the uh ADU growth
[33:53] theoretically from where it is now. So,
[33:56] it's not going to get any less
[33:58] necessarily. Um it's going to stay the
[34:00] same,
[34:01] >> but
[34:02] >> and then you would have
[34:04] future future accessory dwelling units
[34:07] would be year round. So you're going to
[34:09] have more yearround residents here nine
[34:11] more months a year
[34:13] >> coming to eat at the restaurants, shop
[34:15] at the shops, go to the schools, support
[34:18] all of that system. So you're going to
[34:20] have in general a lot more locals coming
[34:23] in for future growth.
[34:25] >> So existing ADUs would not be subject to
[34:28] the six months.
[34:29] >> No. No. If you're already an ADU and you
[34:31] didn't if you have an existing ADU,
[34:34] you're you're already there before the
[34:37] zoning changed. this the ADU law that
[34:41] was adopted in 2022
[34:45] only affects new ADU conversions. Mhm.
[34:49] >> And by the way, there have been there
[34:50] have been a few there actually have been
[34:53] quite a few conversions because we're
[34:55] right next door to the uh building
[34:58] department and you know it right now
[35:00] they can just go to the directly to the
[35:02] building department and get a building
[35:04] permit or if they have a setback issue
[35:07] then they they come to the planning
[35:09] board. I I just want to make sure your
[35:12] question was answered, which I think is
[35:14] are you saying it with more full-time
[35:18] housing, will it negatively impact the
[35:20] number of tourists? Is that what you
[35:22] were asking? Um, I just think because
[35:24] the town's economic is so the town's
[35:28] economy is so dependent on tourism, if
[35:30] you take away the different areas that
[35:33] they the short-term rentals that they
[35:35] would stay at and you replace it with
[35:38] year-round people. It's It's great for
[35:41] community building, but it's going to
[35:43] probably take away some of the some of
[35:46] the tourism dollars that are coming into
[35:48] Rockport, which would be used for
[35:49] >> Well, that that's a that's an
[35:51] interesting question. Um, I don't get
[35:55] the sense that the number of ADUs that
[35:58] will be affected,
[35:59] >> not ADUs in in exclusivity, but like you
[36:03] also mentioned normal restrictions on
[36:05] short-term rentals. I don't think any of
[36:07] this housing will uh stop the tourists
[36:11] from will lessen the tourists from
[36:14] coming to Rockport. It just it's not
[36:16] going to be it's not going to have that
[36:17] much of an impact. We don't we're just
[36:20] not going to have that much housing. You
[36:21] know, even this affordable housing,
[36:24] we're not going to have that much to
[36:26] really impact that. I I see your point.
[36:29] Uh though, thank you.
[36:30] >> Thank you.
[36:31] So, I'd like to add that the the town
[36:34] has a lot and I don't know the numbers,
[36:37] but I will find out the numbers of um of
[36:42] ins and guest houses and um motel. So,
[36:48] all of those I'm assuming are pretty
[36:50] booked for the for the summer. Um so,
[36:53] you're still going to get that influx.
[36:56] Um, this is kind of jumping the gun a
[36:59] little bit, but I did do a little
[37:01] research on on artists and um, there are
[37:06] roughly, according to the census, there
[37:08] are about 80 people in town that
[37:11] actually
[37:12] make a living doing their art. And um,
[37:16] the art association has has said there's
[37:19] roughly 300 artists in their
[37:22] organization.
[37:24] um not all of them can afford to live in
[37:27] town. So some of them are from
[37:28] Gloucester or a little bit further away.
[37:31] But um you know if if the town decided
[37:35] to
[37:37] do the optional thing down the pike, say
[37:40] five years from now of um doing
[37:43] something to promote artist housing and
[37:46] artist live workspace. um that would
[37:50] probably
[37:51] um bring Rockport back a little bit to
[37:55] where it was um in the 1920s, 1930s,
[38:00] 1950s in terms of art colony. Um which I
[38:04] think is a pretty interesting um
[38:06] concept. So um
[38:11] that's all I have for now. Thanks.
[38:13] >> Jason should we should probably be
[38:15] clear. This isn't about taking away any
[38:18] current short-term housing. It's about
[38:20] future conversions of ADUs. Yeah.
[38:22] >> And the sixmonth uh minimum is a
[38:26] separate item on the warrant. It doesn't
[38:28] necessarily have to pass.
[38:31] >> The six month
[38:32] >> six month.
[38:32] >> Yeah. I mean, it could it passed once
[38:36] and
[38:38] I would think twice, right? So, it'll
[38:42] probably pass again, but I guess
[38:44] anything can happen.
[38:46] Hi. Uh, Rich Lurigan, 78 Granite Street.
[38:51] Um, so it's it's good and and to have a
[38:54] provision. I like the provision for
[38:56] housing for artists, but is there a
[39:01] reason why we don't have a provision for housing for town employees?
[39:07] Well, actually, that was one of the uh
[39:09] again, this is optional. It's not
[39:12] required, but one of the pro one of the
[39:17] provisions that the state wanted to
[39:19] encourage was housing for what they
[39:22] called essential employees.
[39:26] >> I didn't see that up there on the
[39:29] >> I think it was there. Yeah, I think we
[39:31] talked about it.
[39:32] >> So, there will be if there's going to be
[39:34] one for artist, there will be one
[39:37] considered seriously for town employees.
[39:40] uh if that's what the voters want in a
[39:44] year or two when we start crafting some
[39:47] of these zoning provisions, there could
[39:50] easily be one, but that's it's it's not
[39:53] required just like the one for artists
[39:56] isn't required, but it's one that the
[40:00] planning board could draft and then you
[40:03] know on an information session like this
[40:05] present it and you make your comments.
[40:08] But it's but none of neither of these
[40:10] are required
[40:12] zoning provisions.
[40:13] >> So some of these provisions will have to
[40:15] be brought up next year for all of them.
[40:19] >> All of them
[40:20] >> like the employee.
[40:21] >> Well, that may may never be brought up
[40:25] unless there's an initiative
[40:28] to to do that. In other words, that is
[40:31] completely optional. Unlike the towny
[40:34] houses, unlike the undersized lots,
[40:37] those two we have to do. Does that make
[40:40] sense?
[40:41] >> Yes. Okay.
[40:41] >> Thank you.
[40:42] >> You're welcome.
[40:44] >> Hi guys, Tom Barrett from OneC. Um, you
[40:49] put up a slide about the things we have
[40:50] to do, the things we can do. on the can
[40:54] do list. Uh clearly uh the state was
[40:58] willing to
[41:00] uh
[41:02] provide us to give us the ability to add
[41:04] back that 6 months that they removed in
[41:07] 2025. Right.
[41:08] >> Correct.
[41:08] >> But on the other things on the list, is
[41:11] there anything anything on that list
[41:12] that we cannot do today without this
[41:16] designation?
[41:18] Are aren't all those possible today
[41:19] anyway without the designation? Um,
[41:24] >> no.
[41:26] >> All right, why don't you answer?
[41:27] >> I don't think they're all possible. You
[41:29] can put the list up, but this this
[41:30] enables them.
[41:31] >> You really want me to try this again?
[41:36] >> Uh, no. Well, they're not. I mean, could
[41:37] we do tiny houses? No. We'd have to
[41:40] amend the law.
[41:40] >> Desate something for artists today. Is
[41:42] anything preventing us from doing that
[41:44] today?
[41:44] >> Yeah, there's no law that allows it.
[41:46] There's no law that says you can give a
[41:48] preference to artists. We can't we can't
[41:50] pass a town law for that.
[41:53] >> Um I don't know the answer to that
[41:54] question.
[41:55] >> We can't do employees either.
[41:57] >> I I would I would refer that to town
[41:59] council. The the state the state seems
[42:03] to think that their
[42:06] law is something that would be, you
[42:09] know, to encourage that to be done. And
[42:14] >> uh I don't know exactly, that's a very
[42:16] good question, but I don't know how it
[42:17] would work out if you just tried to do
[42:20] that now um without their blessing, so
[42:25] to speak. Yeah, I think this the state
[42:27] was just trying to make it clear because
[42:29] I think there's some other federal and
[42:30] state regulations with the fair housing
[42:33] laws and so forth that that suggests
[42:36] that you can't do that, but they're
[42:38] basically saying, but you can do it for
[42:40] artists in these seasonal communities
[42:42] which have tons of artists and uh
[42:46] writers and so forth and and these towns
[42:50] that literally are islands sort of like
[42:53] us that can't get their essential
[42:56] employees to be on the island like
[42:59] Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard and the
[43:02] parts of the Cape and so forth. So, I
[43:05] think this is saying let's let's go for
[43:07] it. Let's try to get these things done
[43:10] and and make them happen. And uh like I
[43:14] was involved in in the Fort Point
[43:16] Channel thing down in Boston where we
[43:19] were dislocating a bunch of u artists
[43:22] who had lived down in those old mill
[43:24] buildings for decades. And uh we worked
[43:27] on a building that the artists
[43:29] eventually bought and uh took care of
[43:32] and they have things written into their
[43:34] deeds for those units for certified
[43:36] artists in Boston. So similar things
[43:39] could be done here like that. and um if
[43:43] it would allow either discounts on rent
[43:45] or discounts on purchase price, those
[43:48] kinds of things.
[43:49] >> All right. Thanks.
[43:50] >> Yeah.
[43:50] >> You're welcome.
[43:54] » Hi, Jane. Me, uh Pigeon Hill Street 63.
[43:58] Um
[44:00] I was wondering you had mentioned
[44:01] earlier that some you know if this
[44:04] passes that some might may be able to be
[44:06] deemed affordable
[44:08] and if so would any of these uh qualify
[44:13] towards the MBTA
[44:18] » uh program?
[44:19] >> Well,
[44:21] we have two things going on here. That's a good question. We've got the
[44:25] MBTA zoning.
[44:27] >> Yeah. which is you know in a certain
[44:30] area only
[44:32] >> some can be there's a certain percentage
[44:34] my understanding that could be elsewhere
[44:36] in
[44:37] >> well yeah but we've already done that
[44:38] that's set already we've already decided
[44:41] >> we discounted that
[44:43] >> the town did that at town meeting we
[44:45] already decided where the uh multifamily
[44:49] housing for the MBTA zoning was going to
[44:52] be allowed
[44:53] >> that's already been decided and it was
[44:56] pretty close to where the train station
[44:59] is.
[44:59] >> Yeah.
[45:00] >> Either right next to it or else not that
[45:02] far away. We didn't get up to where
[45:04] you're living up there.
[45:05] >> So, that would be outside of the MBTA
[45:08] zoning.
[45:08] >> Okay.
[45:09] >> Area, but under this
[45:14] uh zoning that's adopted after the
[45:16] seasonal communities law is adopted,
[45:19] it could be anywhere in town.
[45:22] >> Yeah. And would tiny houses, if they're
[45:25] deemed affordable, go towards the 40B?
[45:30] >> Completely different.
[45:31] >> Okay.
[45:32] >> Very different.
[45:33] >> Striking out twice.
[45:34] >> No, no, you didn't strike out. That was
[45:35] a good question with the MBTA.
[45:37] >> Yeah.
[45:37] >> No. Yeah.
[45:39] >> Okay. Thank you.
[45:40] >> You're welcome.
[45:45] » Um, I didn't say my name before. It's
[45:47] Christine Downing and I live at 19
[45:49] Parker. I just wanted to stretch the
[45:51] language a little bit. Uh artists are u
[45:55] I think should include um I I used to
[45:59] have a studio in the stove factory in
[46:01] Charle Town and there was a one group
[46:04] that had about four letter presses. Um
[46:08] another that is a a paper mill for
[46:11] artists. Can you hear me? It's a paper
[46:13] mill for artists. Um and uh people who
[46:18] are fine woodwork woodworkers should be
[46:20] included in this as well as people who
[46:23] are traditionally defined as you know
[46:25] painters and so forth. Just about trying
[46:28] to stretch the language so it includes
[46:29] more people. Thanks. You're
[46:31] >> welcome. Yeah, when we if we ever get to
[46:34] that um we'll defin that'll be certainly
[46:38] a topic of discussion.
[46:39] >> Okay. Thank you.
[46:49] Hi, it's Stephanie Cornell, 8 Summer
[46:51] Street Court. Uh I just have a question
[46:54] about the other communities that have
[46:56] this designation and if you have looked
[46:59] at examples of how they have integrated
[47:03] additional can do bylaws into their
[47:07] designation
[47:09] as a town and if that's something that
[47:11] you have that information on and that
[47:14] >> we could get we we could all learn more
[47:17] about what other communities have done.
[47:19] >> You wanted to answer. So on the Cape um
[47:22] the Cape Cod Commission has been working
[47:24] with communities on drafting bylaws, but
[47:28] most of the Cape communities were um
[47:32] designated in 2024. So that was recent
[47:36] less than two years ago or around two
[47:38] years ago. So this is very new for
[47:41] everybody. Um, so what I'm hoping the
[47:46] um,
[47:48] Executive Office of Housing and Livable
[47:50] Communities is actually working on kind
[47:53] of templates or um, you know, kind of
[47:57] model bylaws, but model bylaws will
[48:01] undoubtedly have to get tweaked per
[48:04] community a little bit in order to, you
[48:07] know, have everything work out. Um so um
[48:13] I am depending on the vote on April
[48:17] 11th. That's when I will start digging
[48:20] in on on you know looking at bylaws and taking a hard look at what makes
[48:27] sense in terms of Rockport and the
[48:31] templates.
[48:33] >> Thank you.
[48:33] >> You want to say something?
[48:35] >> Uh now is basically the same thing. It's
[48:37] so early. Um some of these towns are
[48:40] getting towards the end of their drafts
[48:41] and their votes, but
[48:43] >> it hasn't been out there in the
[48:45] community for even a year.
[48:47] >> So the entire designation is a new thing
[48:49] from the state over across the whole
[48:51] >> state. Yeah. And even as you're getting
[48:53] the idea that I think that even the
[48:55] state is kind of feeling its way here.
[48:59] >> I mean they this is all new. It's all
[49:01] new to them too. So
[49:03] >> a lot of this is going to evolve as it
[49:07] goes on. Okay, thank you very much.
[49:09] >> Some of some of the some of the towns on
[49:11] the Martha's Vineyard and the
[49:15] and Nucket are we think our numbers are bad, but they're they're at 60 to
[49:20] 80% of uh uh short-term rentals out of
[49:24] all of the dwelling units available. So,
[49:26] it's become a crisis situation for them.
[49:29] And that's what sort of started this
[49:30] whole thing.
[49:35] » Uh okay. Um, we certainly welcome any
[49:39] more questions. No, there's no such
[49:42] thing as a stupid question, so don't be
[49:44] afraid to ask it.
[49:45] >> If you don't Oh, guy gets up. Okay.
[49:50] >> Well, and and people should they can
[49:53] contact me at town.
[49:54] >> Yeah. Yeah.
[49:55] >> They can send me an email.
[49:56] >> Sure. Absolutely. You know, Betsy was
[49:57] just saying
[49:59] she may regret this, but she's saying
[50:01] send her an email.
[50:02] >> Yeah. Um, my email is ewear
[50:05] rockportmma.gov.
[50:07] And if you come up with a question or
[50:10] you read an article and you say, "Well,
[50:12] that doesn't make sense." Give me an
[50:14] email and I'll try to get back to you
[50:17] with a good answer, an accurate answer.
[50:20] E E W A R E like hardware.
[50:24] >> It's beware without the B.
[50:27] >> Um,
[50:32] said you know
[50:35] >> Hi uh Mike Whitten one Cleave Street
[50:37] Rock Bullet. Um I was just wondering
[50:39] about veterans if anybody uh considered
[50:43] uh have a veteran preference also.
[50:46] >> Uh that's a good idea. Um
[50:50] I haven't gotten into the weeds on these
[50:52] preferences yet to see whether
[50:55] veterans are included, but it's a good
[50:57] idea.
[50:58] >> Okay. Thought I'd throw that open.
[51:00] >> Thank you.
[51:08] Any other questions or comments?
[51:15] Going once, going twice,
[51:18] >> three times.
[51:20] So,
[51:22] unless there's anything else,
[51:25] we're I think we're ajourned. Thank you
[51:27] all so much for showing up and bearing
[51:29] with us. Much appreciated.
[51:33] >> Can we post these slides on the town
[51:35] website?
[51:37] >> We could sure. Yeah. Could put them on
[51:39] the town website. And I did arrange for
[51:42] this to be um recorded
[51:46] uh this meeting videotaped. So let we'll
[51:49] see what how that shakes out. Uh so it
[51:53] could be that it can you could actually
[51:54] watch it if you want to see it again.
[51:59] Yeah,
[52:01] >> thank you very much. That was very
[52:02] informative.
[52:03] >> Thank you.