The City Council passed an updated accessory dwelling unit ordinance on Tuesday—one that goes beyond what a new state law requires—aimed at fostering more use of this housing construction option.

“I think we heard loud and clear that we’re not making very good progress since the 1980s, when they first came up,” Councilor Alison Leary said. “And particularly, we’ve heard from our residents about how these ADUs will support families, people with disabilities, and older adults—they’ll allow people to stay in their homes.”

Newton started allowing ADUs in 1987, but in the four decades since, only 122 ADUs have been built. After Gov. Maura Healey signed a massive housing bill last year that has requirements for zoning for ADUs, the City Council and the Planning Department decided to look at ways the city’s ADU ordinance could be changed.

That state law took effect on Feb. 2, leaving the city in a precarious position for the time being.

“We have been kind of living under state rule for our ADUs for about 2 ½ months now,” Councilor John Oliver, vice chair of the Zoning and Planning Committee said.

The version that was passed:

• allows new internal ADUs of up to 1,000 square feet by-right and existing converted ADUs of up to 1,200 square feet by-right (no special review required).
• allows new detached ADUs of up to 1,000 square feet by-right and existing converted ADUs of up to 1,200 square feet by-right.
• allows detached ADUs of up to 1,500 square feet of floor space with a special permit.
• has no screening requirement, but a need for screening can be determined by special permit.
• has no owner occupancy requirements for existing converted ADUs.
• has no owner occupancy requirements for internal ADUs or detached ADUs with less than 1,000 square feet of floor space and allows the permitting authority to impose owner occupancy requirements on larger ADUs if deemed appropriate.
• allows historic carriage house conversions and removes the 15-foot buffer that used to be imposed with them.

The Zoning and Planning Committee moved forward two ordinance options: One was designed to only comply with the new state law, while the other included amendments from Councilor Susan Albright that made more allowances for ADUs than the new state law provides.

On April 7, the City Council was set to vote on both versions, but Oliver “chartered” the item, sending it to limbo until the next meeting (as allowed by the Newton City Charter), saying that he had legal questions about the amended enhanced version.

On Tuesday night, the City Council got back to the ADU vote and passed Albright’s amended version, 18 to 6.

Zoning and Planning Chair Lisle Baker, the lone vote against Albright’s amended version, offered his own amendment to that version, requiring owner occupancy for all detached ADUs.

For clarity: Owner occupancy refers to the property owner living anywhere on the property, in the main home or the ADU.

The Albright-enhanced version currently only requires owner occupancy for new construction detached ADUs and allows special permitting authority to impose an owner occupancy requirement if desired.

When Baker’s motion to extend that requirement for all detached ADUs over a certain size failed to pass, Baker voted against the Albright-amended version completely.

“I think these changes are basically in the public interest, but the balance is a difficult one to strike, where we’re trying to protect the interests of the abutters to properties as well as the interests of the property owner,” Baker said. “And that balance is a difficult one to shape.”

Oliver agreed and said he’d be voting against the enhanced version because it doesn’t require owner occupancy across the board.

“That’s what these, in my opinion, ADUs, were originally intended to do, was provide accessory dwelling units, not additional dwelling units,” Oliver said.

Councilor Tarik Lucas said that the enhanced version was unnecessary.

“I think we should abide by the state law and see what happens with the ADUs,” Lucas said.

But others said just the fact that the work was done to craft an enhanced ordinance after the governor signed the state housing bill shows that something was needed.

“I think that we have talked about this in many meetings within the committee,” City Council Vice President David Kalis, who serves on the Zoning and Planning Committee, said. “It’s not our practice to discuss, debate, look at it from every angle and then say it’s not necessary. The work that was put in was worthy.”

The City Council voted unanimously to approve the version of the ADU ordinance that complies with state law.

Then, the Council voted 18 to 6 with councilors Stephen Farrell and Leonard Gentile and Julia Malakie joining Baker, Oliver and Lucas in opposition.