Village Supports State Funds for Accessory Dwelling Units
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The Pleasantville Board of Trustees agreed last week to sign a memo of understanding with the Housing Action Council that would allow village homeowners to receive state funds to help create an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) on their property.
Speaking to the board about New York State funding for ADUs was Rosemarie Noonan, executive director of the Housing Action Council, a non-profit organization that assists low and moderate income households in the Hudson Valley.
“We have been working with a state funded program called ADU Plus One for about a year-and-a-half and have received funding that provides assistance to a number of municipalities,” Noonan said. “We are helping people who are interested in creating and legalizing ADUs to take advantage of state funding opportunities.”
In May, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that $59 million had been awarded to local governments and non-profit organizations from the state’s $85 million ADU Plus One program, a program designed to increase the housing supply by providing resources to homeowners wanting to build or improve an accessory dwelling unit on their property.
Noonan explained that the Housing Action Council works with a municipality’s accessory apartment ordinances and their approval process when helping homeowners create an ADU.
“There is no need to make any changes to the existing law. We would follow your processes and requirements,” she said.
Since the ADU Plus One program began, homeowners in municipalities receiving state assistance include Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, the towns of Bedford and Yorktown. Pleasantville would be listed in the council’s next round of their funding application, along with Tarrytown and Lewisboro.
State funds are available to homeowners whose income level does not exceed 100 percent of the Westchester County’s median income, which is adjusted by family size.
“For example if you had one person applying for funds their income could not exceed $109,350 and if you had two people, their incomes could not exceed $124,950,” Noonan explained, adding “assistance is up to $125,000 per accessory unit where the homeowner can receive design assistance, assistance in identifying the architect and contracting services needed to forming and legalizing the ADU.”
Pleasantville Mayor Peter Scherer said signing the council’s memo acknowledges that grant monies are available to village residents who qualify. Scherer noted the village ADU ordinance hasn’t changed in the last two decades.
“Creating an accessory unit is very costly and there are many requirements to bring existing homes up to code if a renovation is within that home,” Scherer said. “There are also building permits that are required. It’s an expensive undertaking.”
Pleasantville Building Inspector Robert Hughes told the board that the village code does not allow for detached accessory structures in any inhabitable space.
“I’ve had calls from homeowners who wanted to build a small house or a tiny house or an ADU on their property in addition to the principal building and we don’t permit that currently,” Hughes said.
Hughes suggested that the board be proactive in studying the ADU code.
“If the village and the board really wanted to entertain this, they really should look at our code to address it so it gets flexible because there are restrictions here,” he said.
He added that he was concerned the ADU Plus One program might create some issues or conflicts.
Noonan said if any changes to the code seemed possible they would ask the village to consider them. “But there’s no obligation by participating in this state program that you need to make any changes,” she said.
Having an accessory dwelling unit on one’s property has been a growing issue for several Westchester County municipalities who have looked into changing their zoning codes to allow for more legally established ADUs. Noonan acknowledged the difficulty in creating ADUs.
“We know a whole lot of units won’t be created this way in any particular municipality but our organization takes the position that this helps people stay in their homes who are perhaps on fixed incomes,” she said. “It can provide a rental housing resource for additional revenue coming into one’s homes or may provide an opportunity to a relative or friend to live in the unit.”
Board Trustee Nicole Asquith said she recently became aware of the ADU Plus One Program.
“It’s timely for me. I have a friend living outside the village whose mother-in-law is living with them and who suffered a heart attack,” she said. “My friend is who looking into this program. This is definitely a program we should support.”
Agreeing with Asquith was board Trustee David Vinjamuri, who said, “We should support anything that can help people age in place.”
Abby is a local journalist who has reported on breaking news for more than 20 years. She currently covers community issues in The Examiner as a full-time reporter and has written for the paper since its inception in 2007. Read more from Abby’s editor-author bio here. Read Abbys’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/ab-lub2019/