Avoiding Large House Review at All Costs
Six months after a bylaw change made construction projects more prone to review, applications have dropped as architects and homebuyers find ways to avoid oversight.
A change to Wellesley’s definition of home square footage, which as of July 1, 2010, made construction projects more susceptible to a lengthy and costly review process, has done less to control expansive building in its first six months than it has to inspire creative architecture and other strategies to avoid Planning Board scrutiny, a Wellesley Patch inquiry has found. Last May, Town Meeting voted to amend the official measure of a house's square footage, what local bylaws refer to as “total living area plus garage” (TLAG). The metric now includes all attic space — finished and unfinished — in which the height from floor to ceiling is at least seven feet, or at least five feet for a sloped interior roof. Previously, a home's TLAG did not…
