ADUs Gone Wild (Maybe)

During Wednesday’s Town Council meeting, I spoke about my opposition to the State’s new Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) law, which expands upon Cumberland’s ADU ordinance in many ways that could become detrimental to our community. I wrote about this in an earlier post. My thoughts on this State overreach are not “feelings.” They are based on research, interaction with voters as I knock on doors, and the fact that the same State Legislature has done very little to protect our housing supply from being gobbled up by investors.

I will write more about the research I’ve done, but I touch on much of it in the meeting. You can see my comments in the video starting around the 54 minute mark. I did quite a bit of research before making these comments, as I always do and would if elected, but there is something much more important in this video than my comments.

If you go to the video and move forward to the 24 minute mark, you will see the entire Town Council discussion of ADUs unfold. What you will see is an active, engaged group of Councilors who have reached out to legislative experts and the RI Leage of Cities and Towns to get their input. You’ll see the Town’s attorney weighing in with her legal opinion and the Mayor offering his thoughts and the reasons behind them.

It is a great example of what I love about the people currently representing us. They are able to sit in a room, armed with research and opinions, and hash out what we can do for the Town.

When people ask why I chose to run, that’s why. Our town government is made up of people that care deeply for this town, who do the work needed to keep us on track and moving forward. There will always be things we don’t fully agree with as voters and citizens. Mistakes will be made, as they are in all areas of life, corporate, personal, and political. But what we need is people that care enough to show up, DO THE WORK, and do the absolute best they can for all of us.

In the end, six Councilors voted against updating the ordinance and one voted for it. He had strong reasons for doing so, including the fact that we cannot stop the State law by simply refusing to comply. However, we can lay the groundwork to let our representatives in the Statehouse know the people of Cumberland are not okay with this vast expansion of our already generous ADU ordinance. We can urge our Councilors to make formal protestations to the State Legislature about this overreach. Laws change all the time. We can still make a difference with the best people working for us.

That’s what it’s really about, folks. It’s about work and people with different ideas having civil conversations about how to make Cumberland be the best place it can be now and in the future.