Dear Friends,
We hosted a workshop at the Heineberg Community Center in Burlington on accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Since then we have had a small working group that has been meeting to develop a plan of action to help Burlington residents create more ADUs based on the program in the City of Brattleboro.
A number of things are in the works. The City has completed a report on ADUs In Burlington, examining the current rules in the City and best practices around the country. As a result, the City Council and the Planning Commission will be reviewing ordinance changes to hopefully make it easier to build an ADU while reducing potential impacts. The Burlington Housing Summit in June 2019 included a discussion on ADUs to determine the timeline and scope of these changes. If you are interested in ADUs this would be a great place to let the City know so that it will get prioritized in their workplans. If you support ADUs as a way to help make ends meet, age in place or provide a home for family members, please let your city Councilors know!
HomeShare Vermont has also received a very small grant from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) to provide outreach, public education and some technical assistance to help homeowners create ADUs as either a homesharing arrangement or an affordable rental.
The technical assistance could be:
- to help look at your home and decide the most feasible way to add an ADU;
- to get some professional design assistance and/or
- to help you navigate the permitting process.
In conjunction with this technical assistance, the City of Burlington will be putting some CDBG funding aside to provide small grants or loans to help people create ADUs.
Similarly, HomeShare Vermont can help you find a tenant using their comprehensive screening and matching process if you decide you want to rent out your ADU.
We want to see many more ADUs get built in Burlington. Please let us know if you are planning to create an ADU in the next twelve months by completing this form and getting it back to us. This form doesn’t commit you to anything. It is just a way for us to get started and prioritize our work. We want to hear from you about what you might need to do a project. If you are not interested in adding an ADU to your home, please let us know that as well so we won’t continue to contact you.
Please feel free to call me if you have any questions at 863-5625. We look forward to keeping in touch and working with you if you decide to go forward.
Regards,
Kirby
*To view our other resources regarding ADUs, click here.