July 10, 2022
With the Fourth of July on Monday and no council meeting on Tuesday, it was a relatively quiet week in Lowell politics. The council will meet this coming Tuesday and as is expected with these every-other-week summer meetings, there are 24 motions on the agenda. There is also a draft ordinance on Accessory Use Dwellings, something the council’s joint housing and zoning subcommittee requested at its recent meeting (which I wrote about in last Sunday’s newsletter). Unless a member of the public signs up to speak on it, I doubt the council will even discuss this proposal Tuesday since the council will refer it to the subcommittee for further discussion and public comment.
The proposed ordinance is available online. Here are some highlights:
It defines an Accessory Dwelling Unit as a dwelling unit contained within an owner-occupied single-family structure (think basement, attic, attached garage) or in an “accessory structure” (like a detached garage).
For the “accessory structure” option, the detached building must have been in existence at the time this ordinance is adopted. In other words, after the ordinance is adopted, you cannot then build a separate structure in your yard and use it as an accessory dwelling.
The accessory dwelling must have one off-street parking space.
The size of the accessory dwelling must be at least 350 square feet but not more than 35 percent of the floor area of the principal dwelling unit.
If a proposed accessory dwelling doesn’t meet the above requirements, the owner may seek a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals.
The accessory dwelling cannot be sold separately from the main dwelling.
If the main dwelling is sold, the new owner must reapply for the continued use of the accessory dwelling.
The ordinance sets out a number of other requirements which I’ll list here:
The use of the subject property shall be a single-family residential use.
No more than one (1) accessory dwelling unit shall be located upon a single property.
At least one (1) owner of the property must reside in either the primary dwelling unit or the accessory dwelling unit.
The accessory dwelling unit may not be sold separately from the principal dwelling.
The accessory unit shall be clearly subordinate in use, size, and design to the principal dwelling.
The accessory dwelling unit must be capable of being discontinued as a separate dwelling unit without demolition of any structural component of the principal dwelling.
Short term rentals are prohibited in both the primary and accessory dwelling unit.
Utilities for the accessory unit, such as water, electric, and gas shall be extensions of the existing utilities serving the primary dwelling. No new utilities or meters shall be installed for the use of the accessory dwelling unit.
This seems like a good starting point for further discussion by the council and the community. Although I don’t mention it much above, the proposed ordinance is heavily dependent on oversight and enforcement by the city’s Inspectional Services Department. Whether that office will have sufficient resources to handle the increased workload should be addressed in these discussions.
With an aging population and historically high housing costs, the use of Accessory Dwellings could be a big benefit to Lowell, but its success will depend on serious oversight and enforcement by the city.
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There is also a public hearing scheduled on a needed but relatively minor amendment to the city’s Use Regulations. It involves home-based businesses. Now, a homeowner may operate one business from a residential address with a lot of caveats about no exterior indicators that there is a business there. The proposed amendment would permit more than one business per residential address. In his cover letter to the council, City Manager Tom Golden writes that this will assist “small entrepreneurs who operate internet-based businesses.” As our virtual economy grows, more and more commerce is conducted online but businesses, however small or virtual, still need a physical address so this change seems to make sense.
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Readers of this newsletter occasionally ask about Lowell Walks, the Saturday morning guided walking tours of downtown Lowell that I started back in 2015. For several years before that, I’d been giving tours of Lowell Cemetery that consistently drew substantial crowds. That experience convinced me that similar tours of downtown Lowell would be equally popular. Over several months in the winter of 2014, I quizzed several people experienced in conducting public events how they would organize such downtown tours. I synthesized the best suggestions and came up with the following model:
There would be 10 tours held on consecutive Saturdays in the summertime, skipping the Fourth of July and Folk Festival weekend. All the tours would begin at 10a m at the Lowell National Park Visitor Center at 246 Market Street and would last 90 minutes. Each tour would have a different topic and would be led by a person with expertise in that topic. They would be free and would require no advance registration. Just show up and participate.
The first Lowell Walk was held on June 6, 2015, the topic was Preservation Success Stories, and it was led by Fred Faust. Eighty-four people showed up for the tour. The crowd was overwhelming. As the scale of the crowd became apparent that morning, there was some chatter about splitting up into smaller groups and holding several simultaneous tours, but I rejected that and said everyone should go together. (Fortunately, we had a portable microphone so Fred could be heard by everyone). That decision was fortuitous because Lowell Walks became a social gathering as well an opportunity to learn about Lowell’s history. From that first tour until September 2018, there were 52 Lowell Walks that drew nearly 5,000 people for an average of 100 people per walk. (The record was set by Bob Forrant who had 226 on his 2017 Underground Railroad walk).
Before I could organize a Lowell Walks schedule for 2019, I had a medical matter that put me on the shelf for a couple of months, so we had no tours that summer. However, that fall I met with the leadership of Lowell National Historical Park and proposed that the Park take over as “hosts” of Lowell Walks while I worked with them in setting the schedule and recruiting tour guides. The National Park enthusiastically embraced the idea and quickly organized an amazing schedule of 23 walks for 2020. The first of those walks was held on a clear but cold Saturday in early March. The topic was Women’s Activism in Lowell and it set a high bar for all the tours that would follow. But before the next tour was held, we awoke to Covid-19 in our midst and the rest of the walks were canceled. (For the full list of the planned 2020 walks and all those from prior years, see the Lowell Walks page on richardhowe.com).
With the pandemic persisting through 2021, the Park hosted eight walks in the fall. Although Covid remains with us even now, the National Park has organized a substantial slate of Lowell Walks for this summer and fall. Here’s the schedule of the remaining walks which I’ve copied from the National Park website:
Saturday, July 23--“Mystic Jack” Neighborhood Walk with Steve Edington
Meet at Greenhalge Elementary School (149 Ennell Street).
Explore the sites Jack Kerouac writes about in his book "Visions of Gerard". Learn about Kerouac’s family history and Lowell's French-Canadian culture in the 1920s.Saturday, August 13--Founding of Lowell with Dick Howe
Meet at Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center (246 Market Street).
Join Lowell Walks founder Dick Howe in walking and talking about Lowell’s history. Learn about the city’s founding and how circumstances led to the Lowell of today.Saturday, August 27--Mill Girl History with Tess Shatzer
Meet at Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center (246 Market Street).
Join a Lowell NHP Ranger - and special guests - to explore downtown sites and learn about issues that were important in the daily lives of Lowell's 19th century "mill girls."Saturday, September 3--Lowell's labor History with Bob Forrant
Meet at Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center (246 Market Street).
Join UMass Lowell Professor Bob Forrant for a free walking tour to learn about the history of unions and labor struggles in the Lowell mills. Learn about the fight for fair pay, working conditions and hours and how the rise of the textile industry contributed to these issues.Saturday, September 17--Colombians in Lowell Bilingual Tour with Sebastian Cardona
Meet at the corner of Suffolk Street and Father Morrissette Boulevard.
Join Park Ranger Sebastian Cardona on this bilingual program exploring the Colombian experience in Lowell. This tour will be presented in Spanish and English.Saturday, September 24--Sites of the Underground Railroad and the Abolition Struggle in Lowell with Jacquelynn Coles
Meet at Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center (246 Market Street).
Join Jacquelynn Coles to learn about sites of the Underground Railroad and the abolition struggle in Lowell. This tour will connect you to locations rich with the history and stories of formerly enslaved peoples and Lowell’s connection to their flights for freedom.Saturday, October 1--St. Patrick Cemetery with Dave McKean
Meet at St. Patrick Cemetery (1251 Gorham Street).
Join Dave McKean and Walter Hickey as they lead a tour of St. Patrick Cemetery. Learn the history of this cemetery, founded in 1832 to accommodate the growing Irish population of Lowell.Saturday, October 8--Jack Kerouac Centennial Tour with Steve Edington, Kurt Phaneuf, and Sean Thibodeau
Meet at the Jack Kerouac Commemorative (Bridge and French Streets).
Join Sean Thibodeau, Steve Edington, and Kurt Phaneuf for a Jack Kerouac ramble around Lowell. Given in collaboration with Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival, this tour will highlight locations with connections to Jack Kerouac, and the city he was inspired by.Monday, October 10--Indigenous Peoples History with Christoph Strobel
Meet at Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center (246 Market Street).
Join Christoph Strobel for an Indigenous Peoples’ Day walking tour. Learn about the history and heritage of Indigenous Peoples upon whose land the city and mills of Lowell were built.
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Finally, I’m pleased to announce the return of the Lowell Cemetery Tours on Saturday, October 15, 2022, and on Sunday, October 16, 2022. Both tours will cover the same content and will begin at the Knapp Avenue entrance (77 Knapp Avenue). The tours are free, require no advance registration, and will last about 90 minutes.