Rising real estate and rental prices make it near-impossible for low-income residents, many of whom make up the local workforce, to find housing. Municipalities like Marbletown are struggling to find strategies to increase the volume of affordable options without digging into taxpayer pockets.

But a recent article published by Strong Towns, a non-profit media company focused on infrastructure, provided a list of suggestions to do just that without spending a dime. While some suggestions applied more to urban areas, Strong Towns Senior Editor Daniel Herriges said upstate New York could make its local spaces and building codes more accommodating for housing with reasonable price tags.

“There is a misconception that smaller, more closely packed houses must be associated with urban [areas],” Herriges said. “Small towns in New York State gave some of the best walkable, compact urbanism in America.”

The City of Hudson, in Columbia County, and the City of Kingston were ranked number one and two, respectively, for metro areas with the most drastic increase in new residents in 2020, according to The New York Times. The average selling price for a single-family home jumped from $226,517 in 2019 to $338,908 in the first quarter of 2021, a 46.8 percent increase, according to market data from the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors. As for rent costs, the average monthly rental bill in 2021 was $1,265, compared to 2016 when you could grab a room for only $989, according to the 2020 Ulster County Housing Rental Survey.

The Shawangunk Journal examined the Strong Towns article to determine how Marbletown’s current codes meet the most applicable suggestions and gauge what more work could be done.

Accessory Apartments & Other Dwellings

Allowing accessory apartments in a municipal code is the first suggestion Strong Towns puts forth. These apartments are typically unused spaces, like a garage or attic, that are affordable due to their small size, and often require lower construction costs. Instead of letting these areas become cluttered with boxes, they can be used to help folks looking for a roof over their heads. Marbletown is ahead of the game in this case: its pre-established accessory apartment law allows residents to rent spare rooms or use detached dwellings as extra rental spaces. The idea behind the law was to allow local homeowners to make more money from their properties and increase affordable housing options for renters.

“[Accessory dwelling units] provide benefits for both society and individuals. They make efficient and ‘green’ use of existing infrastructure and help increase densities to levels at which transit becomes viable — yet with lower costs and quicker permitting processes than for larger, multi-family building types,” read an article from UC Berkeley. “Because ADUs tend to be relatively small and their amenities modest, they provide more affordable housing options (at less than one-third of the cost of comparable units in multi-family buildings).”

Accessory apartments must include cooking, sanitary, and sleeping areas; these apartments must contain at least one bedroom and must offer between 350 and 900 square feet of living space. They are permitted in all districts except “light industrial” (I-1) zones and “special residence” zones in the historic areas of Stone Ridge, which require special use permits and approval from the Marbletown Historic Preservation Commission for external renovations. Only one accessory apartment is typically allowed on a lot; however, a homeowner can apply for up to three on their land, with special permission, if they can make sure the spaces conform to code requirements like the minimum lot area, distance from other property lines, and ability to provide sewer and water utilities.

Folks only need a building permit to create an accessory apartment, unlike other building projects that require planning board approval. The town issues a maximum of 50 accessory apartment permits each year, but Marbletown Supervisor Rich Parete said the town typically only sees one application a month. Accessory apartments must be rented for no fewer than 30 days, otherwise they would be considered “short-term rentals,” which have their own regulations and application process. Folks are issued a warning after their first violation of the above rule and handed $500 fines for each following violation.

Applicants representing Hasbrouck House, a hospitality business in Stone Ridge, tested the limits of the accessory apartment law in its pending application for a six-house development. Each house was supposed to come with a detached apartment that could be used for renters and elderly or other relatives by those who bought them. During the applicant’s first public hearing, however, one resident noted that use of these apartments contradicted the intent of the law. First off, these homes are expected to come with high price tags, so it’s assumed that the rentals wouldn’t exactly be affordable. Most importantly, the law required the owner of an accessory apartment to live on the rented property as their primary residence. Since the developer won’t likely see the inside of these homes past the selling date, they wouldn’t satisfy this vital component of the law.

While accessory apartments are one solution, other traditionally affordable housing types have been outright banned by the town code. Trailer parks are not allowed in any district, and house trailers are only allowed in agriculture and residential districts, not in the historic corridors of Stone Ridge. Herriges explained that municipalities historically shy away from these options because of the negative stereotypes attached to trailer parks. He explained that a ski community in Idaho had struggled with finding housing for their local workforce, but used federal tax credit programs to fund a community of manufactured houses with much success. These spaces were reserved for residents, meaning there was no competition from the seasonal vacationers who often occupied rental spaces. Parete felt that the laws prohibiting the aforementioned housing types were discriminatory and discouraged diversity in the community.

“I think some of these laws are not good and need to be reviewed and changed,” Parete said. “We need people of all economic levels in this town.”

Based on an article from Accessorydwellings.org, accessory apartment critics are concerned about potential negative impacts like increased parking issues and decreasing property values (since they may attract “undesirable people''). The author explained that there is not enough research on accessory apartments to truly measure their impacts. However, he examined the City of Portland, Oregon, where accessory apartments are being developed at a rapid pace. Despite the spike in such units, he argued that the number of new cars attached to them represented a mere drop in the bucket compared to all of the vehicles at single-family residences in Portland. For now, he argued, parking shouldn’t be the main deterrent for these affordable housing options.

He then explained that property values in urban and suburban environments are largely attached to what surrounds them.

Housing In Commercial Zones

This past year, the sight of vacant business spaces and “closed for good” signs have become all too common in store windows across Ulster County. Instead of leaving these spaces to rot, Strong Towns suggested that towns allow residential, multi-family spaces within their walls.

Allowing for more mixed-use zoning areas is purported to have a number of benefits, including the reduced cost of public services “by encouraging infill and redevelopment” in pre-developed areas, and the preservation of more open space and compact development, according to Sustainablecitycode.org. The website also explained that mixed-use zones foster diverse neighborhoods, with more economic and cultural opportunities that contribute to greater livability and a healthier local economy.

In Marbletown, single and two-family residences are allowed in “general business” (B-1), “highway-oriented business” (B-2), “special residence” (SR) and “industrial spaces” (I-1) districts with a special use permit. The only exception comes with existing structures in B-1 zones, which need approval from the town code enforcement officer. To give you a sense of these areas, we checked the most recent Marbletown zoning map on the town website. Main Street in High Falls is divided into chunks of B-1 and SR districts, to account for the various historic buildings and businesses, and you’ll find a B-2 district on the stretch of Route 209 that houses G&G Lawn and Power and Lydia’s Cafe. An industrial zone is located in a small square along Route 209 that encompasses the Lincoln Electro-Mechanic Corporation and Charles River Laboratories International buildings.

While expanding the allowable zones in which apartments can lie might help the housing situation here, acquiring special use permits through the planning board is often a lengthy process. Applicants often have to schedule public hearings, after the planning board reviews their plans, which require prior notice to residents and can be delayed for months if there is enough public pushback. Strong Towns suggested that lengthy review processes tend to discourage small-scale, local projects and said that towns should do their best to reduce wait times for applicants as much as possible. But if past public hearings have shown us anything, it’s that Marbletown residents take great interest in development and how it may impact the functionality and appearance of the town. When it comes to cutting down the review process, it doesn’t seem to fit the community’s desires.

Reduce Minimum Lot Sizes

Strong Towns suggests a reduction in minimum lot sizes allowed for housing developments. Some towns have dropped their minimum lot sizes to as low as 1,400 square feet, the article read. This can supposedly help facilitate more housing in unused areas and reduce the strain on municipal infrastructure.

According to an article from the CATO Institute, minimum lot size requirements reduce housing density and, as a result, eat away at the overall supply of housing. The institute cited, “The Causes and Consequences of Land Use Regulation: Evidence from Greater Boston,” written in the Journal of Urban Economics in 2008. The study found that each additional acre of a minimum lot size requirement resulted in a 50 percent drop in issued building permits in Boston.

As of now, residential and agriculture districts require three to four acres of land, while most special residence and business districts require only one acre. These restrictions were set to provide open space, to facilitate fire prevention and firefighting, prevent the “undue concentration of the population,” and to lessen street congestion.

Affordable Housing Ideas

Marbletown already includes affordable housing measures in its town code that are meant to secure safe housing for certain residents, especially senior citizens, low-income families, veterans and volunteer emergency workers. However, this part of the code only addresses developments with 20 or more lots, or multi-family dwellings with 20-plus units. At least 10 percent of the lots must be reserved as affordable units. These developments are the only cases where a duplex or triplex can be built. To be eligible to rent or buy these homes, the aggregate household income of an applicant must be 80 to 120 percent of the Ulster County median family income.

So far the only project to come near the 20-plus lot criteria is the Duchess Farm Equestrian Community development in High Falls, Parete said. The development is stuck in a dead-lock with a lawsuit from the town, which is focused on design aspects of the development that the town felt didn’t adhere to its code. Moving forward, Parete said the town will ask Duchess Farm to include at least two affordable units out of its lots.

At a recent town board meeting, the board discussed even more strategies to boost the amount of affordable housing options. The town received $280,000 from the American Rescue Plan (ARP), part of a $1.9 trillion national relief package that President Joe Biden signed in March. Parete suggested that some of the ARP money could be used to create funds that residents could borrow from to build accessory apartments. Town board member Daisy Foote suggested that the town create a “Housing Trust Fund,” that would be managed by a board of residents who would be in charge of building revenue for the account and looking to purchase property that could be developed for affordable housing. They would also be tasked with creating and issuing loans and grants to support such developments.

“There’s no silver bullet answer [to the affordable housing issue],” Herriges said. “I think it’s necessary to create flexibility for people to kind of hack their existing [housing solutions] and to not let aesthetics be too at war with practicality.”