Senate Poised To Vote On Environmentally Harmful ADU Bill Rather Than Senator Gu’s

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Charlestown’s State Senator Victoria Gu along with Town Planners and Planning Commissions statewide worked to craft an Accessory Dwelling Unit Law that allowed ADUs while at the same time worked to protect the Coastal Ponds and other sensitive environmental areas from excessive nitrogen pollution.

The Senate Housing and Municipal Government Committee is scheduled to vote this Tuesday, June 11, on the ADU bill which passed the House (H-7062) but not on Senator Gu’s bill which the planners worked on and was presented as a collaborative bill involving both the planners and the housing advocates, S-2630.

If the House bill passes the Senate as is, with none of the conditions or carve-outs that the planners worked on, ADUs will be allowed by right on any lot of 20,000 square feet or more.

  • An ADU that is established by expanding a footprint or building a new stand-alone structure will be a permitted use on any lot of at least 20,000 square feet, even if the lot is nonconforming in area (which most lots of that size in Charlestown would be) or is in a floodplain, or highly constrained with wetlands.
  • An ADU within an existing footprint will be a permitted use on any lot, including those smaller than 20,000 square feet.
  • There is no exclusion for lands already developed beyond carrying capacity which was specifically written into Senator Gu’s bill. This means that in areas of Charlestown that already have dangerously high levels of nitrogen in the groundwater, the number of housing units and the amount of nitrogen would be allowed to increase on any lot by as much as double.
  • ADUs will be allowed to be as large as 1,200 square feet by right.
  • There are no provisions to require year-round rentals.
  • The ability for municipalities to require owner occupancy in one of the units is removed.

Senator Gu represents Westerly, Charlestown, and South Kingstown.  She needs to hear from constituents to urge her to push for her bill (S-2630) that allows ADUs while still protecting groundwater and drinking water, rather than the House bill which represents a very real threat to the Coastal Ponds and groundwater throughout the town.

You can contact Senator Victoria Gu by email or phone:

The banner image is an aerial photo of the West Beach area, where dense development already negatively impacts the coastal ponds and where ADUs will exacerbate those problems.