As a way of increasing the diversity of available housing in the township, members of the Montclair Housing Commission pitched a plan to allow a limited number of "accessory dwelling units" to be created in town.

Commission members suggested that the Township Council pass an initiative allowing such units to be installed in 10 single-family homes in each of Montclair’s four wards on a trial basis. In 2011, officials could then check back in to see if the regulation needed tweaking.

The first 10 homeowners per ward to apply for permission for the small apartments would face a hearing before the Planning Board, where they would need to demonstrate that they met certain conditions, before obtaining approval to start construction.

According to the commission’s proposal, the units would be constricted in size to between 500 and 800 square feet. Commission members noted that these units would not be luxurious but basic, and targeted toward young professionals.

On top of the square-footage restriction, the units would need to be built within an existing structure such as a home or a carriage house, and would have to be "independent" of the rest of the building. That meant the cozy apartments would be required to have their own kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms. Commission members also recommended that the units be restricted to just one bedroom.

Among the goals of the theoretical program would be providing additional revenue for senior citizens, facing the prospect of being driven out of Montclair by rising costs, thereby giving them an opportunity to stay in their homes.

Those homeowners who got clearance to build accessory dwelling units could also choose to move into the small apartments and put the remainder of their homes up for rent.

Fourth Ward Councilwoman Renée Baskerville said that if the council were to sign off on this new pool of available dwelling units, then she would like to use it to make progress toward fair and affordable housing goals, which the council has prioritized.

While the new units would be less expensive than most Montclair apartments, the plan would not represent "a silver bullet for affordable housing," said Bob Goodsell, a member of the commission, which was established to advise the Township Council about affordable housing issues and to maintain the township’s economic diversity.

The commission did not recommend that the units be rented out on an affordable basis. That would entail regulating their rents and limiting the tenant pool to candidates within certain income brackets.

Pragmatically, commission members felt that few homeowners, who would be opening up their houses to strangers, would be interested in building these apartments if their tenant options were constrained in such a way.

Commission Chairman George Burroughs said the goal would not be to legalize dwelling units that have already been quietly installed in single-family houses, but to promote new, relatively low-cost residential spaces in town.

If implemented, the plan would modestly increase population density, commission members said, but in some cases it would have no impact. Adding an accessory dwelling unit to, say, a large five-bedroom house inhabited by empty nesters, would not have much of an effect on a neighborhood, the commission members said.

Council members questioned whether adding a unit to a house would result in a higher property-value assessment and therefore a tax increase for homeowners, essentially canceling out any financial benefit.

They also deliberated the possibility of offering residents who add accessory dwelling units tax incentives, such as a reduced assessment. Township Attorney Alan Trembulak was asked to research whether the council could legally offer such a carrot to interested homeowners.

Contact Dan Prochilo at prochilo@montclairtimes.com.