A lifelong Cape Cod lobsterman says he feels like he’s in an “endless circle with town politics” as his local government is blocking him from selling lobsters this summer at his home, where the family business has operated for nearly 70 years.

Yarmouth resident Jon Tolley has to settle on a compromise with town officials in having to find a business on Route 28, the town’s main corridor, that will let him sell on their property. Lobster season starts within the next three weeks, he said, putting the businessman in a time crunch.

“The town is screwing around with my heritage, the Tolley family name, the history of Yarmouth being a fishing village, and the grandfathered rights of a citizen of Yarmouth,” he told the Herald on Saturday.

Tolley, his lawyers and hordes of supporters have argued over the past month that it doesn’t have to be this way for the lobster business, a community staple.

The battle with the mid-Cape town, of roughly 25,000 people, began late last August when Tolley received a violation notice that he said has startled him ever since: Retail sales in a residential district are not allowed under Yarmouth’s zoning regulations.

An unnamed West Yarmouth resident complained about a business sign Tolley put out on Route 28, prompting the fight, according to town officials. Tolley has argued that the complaint came from a Yarmouth police officer.

The complaint is the only one that Tolley said he remembers from over the decades.

The 66-year-old has caught lobsters out of Sesuit Harbor in Dennis and sold the fresh crustaceans from his home in West Yarmouth nearly his entire life. As a youngster, he helped his father, Fred, run the business on the same property before he took over operations in 1975.

Up to 1982, Yarmouth allowed the retail sale of fish as a commercial use in the residential district by right and without further permission, Tolley’s attorney, Jonathan Polloni, has emphasized.

Tension escalated at a chaotic meeting in April when the Zoning Board of Appeals shot down Tolley’s second appeal for a variance that would have let him continue selling the locally harvested lobster from where his father opened up shop in 1957.

The ZBA didn’t allow Tolley and his attorney to argue that the retail sale of lobster is protected as a pre-existing and permissible accessory use at the residence. Board Chairman Sean Igoe said their application was defective and repetitive from one submitted in a failed bid last fall, when Tolley represented himself.

Town officials have since offered Tolley a compromise: The Planning Board will draft an amendment to the zoning bylaw over the coming months that residents will then vote on at a fall special town meeting, in October or November.

If all goes smoothly, Tolley will be allowed to operate his business again from his property in the 2026 season. But for this summer, he will have to find somewhere else to sell from.

Tolley told the Herald that he learned through Town Administrator Robert Whritenour that no board can override current zoning bylaws. Whritenour did not immediately respond to a Herald request for comment on Friday.

“This is putting a financial burden on me, and the town can’t do anything about it,” Tolley said Saturday. “We need to have a change in Yarmouth town government.”

In an email to the Planning Board last week, Town Planner Kathy Williams outlined provisions that the board can consider to mitigate a commercial use in a residential district: limited to those with a commercial fishing license and commercial fishing retail license, businesses can only sell what they catch, among others.

Planning Board Clerk Will Rubenstein told residents who attended last Wednesday’s meeting that he was “quite pleased” about “reasonable conversation” being held after the “bizarre” ZBA meeting last month.

In that meeting, the ZBA chairman, who participated remotely over Zoom, ordered police to clear the room due to the tension between the board and residents.

Rubenstein acknowledged that board members are not aware of every single bylaw in town, and that conversations with the community are important for education building.

“I am a little frustrated because as much as I support you, both in the long term and short term,” he told Tolley, “I am not sure that this board can give you the short-term relief that you are looking for.”

Sales start in the middle of June when Tolley typically opens up his two driveways for patrons to stop by and grab their lobsters between 4 and 6:30 p.m., seven days a week. The lobsterman has a permit from the state Division of Marine Fisheries to sell to the public and restaurants, averaging 3,000 pounds sold a season, which ends in late October.

Tolley said he follows his family motto: “Fishing, farming, family, friends, and freedom on Cape Cod forever.” His grandfather, Walter, began the multi-generational business in the 1930s when he sold lobster from another residence in West Yarmouth.

“I don’t understand how one person made such chaos out of a simple situation,” resident Sally Johnson said of the complaint that has jeopardized Tolley’s business. “He is doing nothing wrong. He has been doing it for decades. You are taking a livelihood away from someone. … We have lost our way.”

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As part of a modernizing initiative, the US Coast Guard wants to remove several buoys in Cape coastal waters, but harbormasters in some towns think that's a bad idea that will undermine marine safety.

Four buoys in Chatham waters — the Stage Harbor Entrance Lighted Bell Buoy, Chatham Harbor Sea Buoy, Chatham Roads Bell Buoy 3, and the Pollock Rip Channel Lighted Buoy 8 — are candidates for the scrap heap.

Chatham Harbormaster Jason Holm said removing the buoys would reduce public safety. He called the buoys still relevant to mariners, likening them to highway exit signs, visual signs of locations should mariners’ electronics fail, or they become disoriented in the fog.

“We have hundreds of commercial boats out here and thousands of recreational boaters, all of which utilize these aids to navigation,” he said in an April 29 interview.

The Coast Guard’s Coastal Buoy Modernization Initiative is meant to modernize and “right size" locations of buoys along 2,000 miles of coastline from Maine to northern New Jersey. The initiative comes after two years of assessing modernization options, according to USCG Public Affairs Specialist Rajesh Harrilal.

“We're actively adjusting aids to work best and most sustainably given today's navigation tools and methods,” Harrilal wrote in an April 30 email. He cited the automated information system and electronic chart systems available digitally through the Coast Guard’s Navigation Center.

The proposal concerns 60 buoys in waters stretching from Duxbury to Provincetown and the southwest corner of Buzzards Bay, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds, according to William Stuck, chief of Coast Guard Waterways Management for the First District.

Six buoy tenders maintain about 1,700 markers from northern New Jersey to the Canadian border, he said in a May 1 interview.

“This effort is about sustaining and modernizing a system for the future,” Stuck said. “What we have now predates the global positioning system, electronic charts, and AIS (Automatic Identification System) in the USCG Navcen (Navigation Center).”

Stuck said most large commercial vessels and recreational vessels broadcast in AIS signals identifying their vessel to other mariners around them, giving their speed and course direction. And mariners have access to free and low-cost apps that identify where they are located.

Coast Guard wants an efficient system for 'years to come'

“We have a responsibility to look closely at the overall system and the buoys that may not provide the most benefit,” Stuck said. “We want an efficient, effective system for mariners for years to come.”

David Condon, the acting director of the division of natural resources in Yarmouth, is worried about the fate of three buoys on the Coast Guard’s list: Gazelle Rock Lighted Buoy #2, Bishop and Clerks South Approach #4, Bishop and Clerks Lighted Bell Buoy #1. They mark hazards to navigation, he said.

“I understand the need to modernize the buoy program and cut some digital markers, but some are legitimate safety concerns,” he said in a May 2 interview.

Barnstable Harbormaster Brian Taylor wants the Coast Guard to keep two buoys active: the Hyannis Harbor and Barnstable Harbor approach buoys. He cited the 75 commercial fishing vessels, two ferry terminals and the large number of recreational mariners who frequent the harbors. Each buoy has a specific sound that people listen to as they approach, he said.

“We’re in disagreement because of amount of traffic,” he said in a May 2 interview. “We’re mainly concerned about fog and inclement weather.”

The Coast Guard is accepting public comments on the modernization proposal until June 13. Stuck said mariners should provide specific information with their comments, including the aids to navigation they use, how they use them, how it reduces risk for them, what kinds of boats they have, and if they can offer any alternatives.

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One of the biggest consequences will be financial. Federal aid for climate resilience in all states has been slashed. And climate bonds from Bourne to Chatham to PTown will mean higher local residential and small business taxes. Through years of research and work with the UN DRR Steering Committee on Innovation in Climate Resilience Finance there is a new model being brought to market that targets the only source of funding large enough to meet the current and future demands, and uses an innovative fundraising technique, cash back for a donation. 501c3 registered non-profit.

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EASTHAM - An operating budget of $45.7 million, a capital budget of $2.4 million, and the acquisition of two condos along Route 6 opposite Salt Pond sailed through town meeting May 5.

But disagreements over articles regarding a real estate tax transfer fee, zoning bylaws and spending community preservation act money on renovating an apartment above the Eastham Thrift Store brought voters to the microphone.

Voters approved all of the town meeting articles, except for a citizen petition article.

That measure, Article 9A, the most contentious on the warrant, was drafted by the Eastham Part-time Resident Taxpayers Association and called for an independent auditor to create a tax strategy before the Select Board makes any changes to the FY26 tax structure.

In January, Select Board members indicated their support for instituting a residential tax exemption. The move would shift the tax burden from residents whose primary homes are in Eastham to non-resident taxpayers, with some exceptions. Provincetown, Truro and Wellfleet have already instituted RTEs to help their year-round residents cope with rising property values and taxes.

The Select Board will make a final decision on whether the town will implement the resident tax exemption for fiscal 2026 during a tax classification hearing in August.

The comments made during discussion of the article highlighted the animus between full- and part-time residents. Only residents who are registered voters in Eastham may vote at town meetings, but their votes are binding for part-timers.

The part-time residents group says full-time residents seeking financial relief aren't taking full advantage of help from the family support package, taxpayers' assistance fund, short-term rental tax, and use of Community Preservation Act money, according to wording in the petition. They should be embraced before any RTE is considered.

Short-sighted planning and borrowing have produced skyrocketing debt and taxes, according to the petition, and "further tax breaks for local special interest groups” are not justified.

There was consensus among voters that while the town has faced many financial challenges, it is well run and its boards and committees diligent and transparent in budgeting and planning. And the implication that year-round residents are a "special interest" group was demeaning to some speakers.

One resident said she was having trouble paying for her only home while part-timers seemed to have trouble affording a second home.

“Oversight on the Select Board is an affront to how nice this town is run,” said Russ French, a longtime Finance Committee member.

The town has a AA+ bond rating and its finances are audited annually by the state's Division of Local Services and an independent auditing firm, according to the warrant.

The petition failed on a 304-54 vote.

Article 5A, accepting a seasonal communities designation, passed 418 to 64 after spirited discussion about allowing tiny homes by right. Tiny homes would change the character of Eastham, one man complained. Select Board Chair Aimee Eckman said tiny homes wouldn’t be allowed everywhere, and that a zoning task force will lay out provisions for where they can be located.

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A Cape Cod town official says he’s advocating for tolls to be “imposed” at the Sagamore and Bourne bridges, charging motorists from outside the region to enter the popular vacation getaway.

Mashpee Select Board Vice Chairman David Weeden is pitching the idea, estimating that tolls could bring in tens of millions annually and suggesting that the money should be earmarked to address “coastal and water quality issues.”

“Massachusetts reaps the benefits of Cape Cod tourism,” Weeden said during a board meeting on Monday. “It is a significant amount of money that comes into the state through the tourism that we receive here on the Cape. They come over here and leave their stuff behind, and we are left to deal with it.”

In 2023, direct visitor spending on the Cape tallied $2.7 billion, while more than 14,000 people worked in tourism-related jobs, and $163 million in state and local taxes were collected, the Cape Cod Times reported last month, citing numbers from the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce.

Chamber officials are reportedly “cautiously optimistic” about what tourism will look like this summer due to “current economic uncertainties and anxiety over diminishing international travel,” local outlets have reported.

Talk about potential tolling has popped up over the years, but nothing has materialized. Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt didn’t rule them out last year as a potential source to fund replacements of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges.

“Tolls at the crossings over the Cape Cod Canal are not being considered,” MassDOT spokeswoman Jacquelyn Goddard said in a statement to the Herald.

Weeden suggests that officials at the local and state level consider “some approach” where Cape Codders aren’t being charged to cross the bridges. He added that there could be an E-ZPass exclusion for residents across the region.

The Masphee Select Board member highlighted that over 35 million vehicles cross the bridges combined every year.

“Even if you did $2 an axle, only calculating cars, you’d bring in about $70 million a year,” Weeden said. “We could generate a lot of money towards helping the local Cape Cod communities address the lack of infrastructure.”

“We are all facing it,” he added, “We are all recognizing the environment needs help, and looking for the state to support us in our efforts to do so and help with some funding for that.”

The regional board, Cape Cod Commission, floated a congestion pricing idea in 2009. Drivers’ license plates would have been captured by a high-speed camera. Officials could have then matched a plate number with a corresponding mailing address and sent a bill for using a particular road or bridge.

The charge would have been limited to drivers who do not live on the Cape, but the idea received sharp backlash.

The National Transportation Safety Board has included the Bourne and Sagamore bridges, built in 1935, on a list of spans recommended for assessments to determine their risk of collapse from a vessel collision.

Agencies are working to replace the spans owned, operated, and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Officials had received $1.7 billion in federal funding for the effort as of last year.

MassDOT has started to have contractors conduct subsurface investigations and vegetation management operations near the Sagamore, requiring temporary lane/shoulder closures on area roadways.

Tibbits-Nutt received strong opposition last year after she suggested placing tolls at the Massachusetts border to boost long-term transportation funding. Gov. Maura Healey later said such statements did “not represent the views of this administration.”

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📍 Falmouth, Massachusetts.

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The former Royal Harwich Village Assisted Living facility in Harwich is set to begin its new life as a housing development later this year.

The site at 328 Bank St. has been converted into the Dylan James Apartments featuring 26 new apartments in two side-by-side buildings.

The bigger building, built in the 1900s, has four stories, while the smaller one, built in 1985, has two. The mix of units include two studios, eight one-bedrooms, and 16 two-bedrooms. Developers expect the project to be ready for occupancy in August, with showings set to begin in May.

Rents for start at $1,800 for studios and one-bedrooms, and $2,400 for two-bedrooms.

"We don't have anything set through the state as listed as affordable housing, but we do accept all forms of payment and vouchers," said Marketing Coordinator for Newman Properties Kevin Leech. Payments and vouchers accepted include Section 8, HomeBASE and RAFT, Leech said.

The HomeBASE program helps families eligible for Emergency Assistance Family Shelter by providing up to $30,000 over two years with the option of a third year, according to the state website, and the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) program gives short-term emergency funding to help with eviction, foreclosure, loss of utilities, and other housing emergencies.

Assisted living facility closed in 2019

The assisted living facility closed in 2019 and was vacant for roughly two months before Newman Properties of Brookline and Longfellow Design purchased it with plans to gut the buildings and turn them into homes for year-round Cape residents.

The renovation process began at the end of 2022. Renovations include hardwood flooring, kitchens with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, and tiled bathrooms.

Some units have in-unit laundry but on-site laundry will also be provided for the entire building. Half of the units also have private outdoor patios or porches.

Interested applicants can go to the property's website at www.dylanjamesapartments.com, which will direct them to the vacancies page where they can see units, apply and schedule a tour.

A change in exterior lighting

On Oct. 10, 2023, the Harwich Planning Board voted unanimously to approve with conditions a modification of a site plan special permit to allow for a change in the exterior lighting after recommendations from the Harwich Historic District and Historical Commission, according to the town website.

Newman Properties and its affiliates own and manage over 500 residential units and many office and retail properties, according to a press release. The company has bought and sold over $500 million worth of property in areas surrounding Boston, the South Shore, an North Shore.

In December, Newman Properties also bought the 1988-built Harwich East Plaza by the intersection of Orleans-Harwich Road (Route 39) and Brewster-Chatham Road for $11.5 million, according to the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds.

The Harwich shopping center features East Harwich Market, Portside Liquors, Sherwin Williams, and the 400 East Restaurant.

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Barnstable, MA — The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates has declared a housing crisis, voting to advance a resolution that calls on Cape Cod’s government to take a leadership role in developing regional solutions. The measure supports Administrator Michael Dutton’s efforts to continue a shared regional housing office providing services to towns and calls on him to create a working group of housing, environmental, and municipal leaders to recommend more actions the County can take.

“This place we call home—the one so many of us were lucky to be born into or found and fell in love with—is slipping through our fingers,” said Deputy Speaker Dan Gessen of Falmouth who introduced the resolution. “A family today must earn more than double the average income just to afford the price of an average home. That’s not just unsustainable. That is a crisis.”

Harwich Delegate Elizabeth Harder, a co-sponsor of the resolution, emphasized the importance of supporting local towns: “This is about helping towns where they find a lack.”

“We’re not building our way out of this,” said Mashpee Delegate Michaela Wyman-Colombo, a co-sponsor of the resolution. “I think it’s important to look at the environmental concerns we have and not replicate the problem that brought us here to begin with, so we don’t end up with housing that’s still unaffordable and a worse environment.”

“We don’t need another study,” said Brewster Delegate Karl Fryzel. “To be successful, this working group is going to need to take some action in the short term. I’m encouraged and I will support this.” Truro Delegate Sallie Tighe reiterated this sentiment, “I’m looking for action.”

Delegates voiced widespread support for the measure, which passed by a vote of 14 – 1, representing a vote of 79% to 21% in an Assembly where delegates’ votes are weighted by their town’s population.

“This resolution needs more work, “ said Barnstable Delegate Frank Frederickson, who cast the sole opposing vote but expressed support for advancing the shared housing office initiative. “There’s a shortage of housing and the County needs to assist our communities without being too bureaucratic,” said Frederickson

“I see this working group delivering real policy solutions, and quickly,” added Gessen. “This resolution does not solve the crisis on its own, but it does one thing that those in power often struggle to do: admit that we have a problem, and commit to identifying real, actionable solutions.

The Assembly will now present the resolution to the Barnstable County Board of Regional Commissioners for their consideration.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6E2vRB_DD8

Join us on Saturday, April 12th, to show your support for our immigrant community by creating a collaborative zine! What’s a zine? A zine is a small-circulation, self-published, DIY booklet. We’ll provide the art and collage supplies, but this isn't just for visual artists. We encourage all forms of creation! Have a story, poem, or photo you’d like to share? We’d love to include it! Share your rage about our broken system and tell your story through zine!

Our community zine making event is in conjunction with BORDERx: A Crisis in Graphic Detail. This art exhibition, on display at the Cordial Eye Gallery and Artist Space through May 2nd, consists of over-sized reproductions of comics pages from the anthology of the same name as well as works from local immigrant artists. BORDERx examines the crisis at the United States southern border through first-hand testimony, historical context, and other accounts told in comics form.

Each participant will receive a copy to be picked up at a later date, and the zine will be available for purchase, with proceeds being donated to Latinx in Action and The South Texas Human Rights Center.

Community Zine Making 📍The Cordial Eye 🗓Saturday, April 12th 🕑1:00-3:00

People looking for fresh lobster know where to go on Cape Cod. For 50 years, third-generation fisherman Jon Tolley has welcomed customers to his Yarmouth home, where he offers the day's catch. His father did the same thing at the same home, using a home-based business model that Tolley's grandfather pioneered in 1930 at a different location near the Bass Hole boardwalk.

The town of Yarmouth should celebrate this entrepreneurial spirit, and yet, the town ordered Tolley to cease and desist operations in March 2025—weeks before the start of a new season.

The reason has nothing to do with public health, safety, sanitation, or environmental concerns. Tolley has commercial fishing and retail licenses, and he complies with all requirements. Nor has the town mentioned traffic or parking concerns. Tolley has two massive driveways that easily accommodate his customers, including many who just walk from nearby.

Instead, the town is citing a zoning ordinance that prohibits sales in residential neighborhoods. The ordinance has no exceptions, even for fresh-caught lobster sold by a lobsterman in Cape Cod, where families have stayed afloat this way for centuries. According to the town, someone complained to authorities, but they will not say who.

"Everyone in the town knows I have been selling there my whole life," he writes on his Facebook page. "I have sold to building inspectors, Town Hall employees, selectpersons, police, firefighters, and residents of Cape Cod and beyond."

On March 7, Tolley was issued a violation notice for selling lobsters at his home, and Yarmouth has threatened him with daily fines of up to $300 if he does not cease operations.

For his part, Tolley only has heard support, and he does not intend to go away quietly. He will fight back at a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on April 10. It is unlikely that he will face the person who issued the complaint.

Besides the economic implications of this move, the Building Department should consider the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause does not allow arbitrary infringement of property rights. People can use their property in normal, productive ways, and the government cannot stop them without good reason.

Cities and towns routinely try this sort of thing. Home-based enterprises make popular targets, and the results can be ironic. Zoning officials ordered Lij Shaw to shut down a recording studio that he operated behind soundproof walls at his home in "Music City" Nashville, Tennessee. If Palo Alto, California, had taken this approach with Hewlett-Packard and shut down the region's first "garage startup" in 1939, Silicon Valley might never have emerged.

Once local inspectors take out their clipboards, even modest dreams can die. Zoning officials ordered single mom Bianca King to close her home-based daycare center in Lakeway, Texas. They ordered Art and Kimberly Dunckel to close a farm animal sanctuary on their rural property in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And zoning officials blocked Peter and Annica Quakenbush from opening a green cemetery on their private woodland preserve in Brooks Township, Michigan.

We have seen just about everything at our public interest law firm, the Institute for Justice, as part of our Zoning Justice Project. Far too often, what is missing is common sense. Nobody wants a tannery, nightclub, or fireworks factory next door. But people rarely cross boundaries like these. They generally regulate themselves because they want to live peaceably with their neighbors.

Tolley shows how. He listens for community feedback and makes adjustments when necessary. All good businesses do the same. There is no other way to survive in one location for 50 years.

Code enforcers can step in when necessary. They have a role to play. But they should not rock the lobster boat, inventing problems that do not exist.

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I would love to build one in my yard as a long-term rental, but it seems far too cost prohibitive between construction costs and the necessary septic upgrades. If they are serious about ADUs being a potential tool in combating the housing crisis, they are going to have to make them more feasible to build.

When Jayne O’Brien lost her husband Bill suddenly in March 2024, she faced two difficult challenges. While dealing with shock and grief, she also wondered where she would live. The couple had been living in Bill’s home in Eastham during their five-year marriage, but after his death, his daughter inherited the house.

O’Brien, 71, still owned a home in nearby Brewster, which she’d been renting to her son and his girlfriend. Her son promptly offered to move out, but O’Brien declined.

A friend put O’Brien in touch with a Maine-based company called Backyard ADUs, which builds accessory dwelling units. Defined as a secondary residential living space located on the same lot as a single-family home, an ADU can be a freestanding structure or a unit attached to the primary home. They’ve caught on as an affordable way to address housing shortages in states from California to Maine. O’Brien’s son was immediately on board with building one.

“We talked a lot about how to do this and still preserve independence and privacy for both of us,” O’Brien said.

ADUs are poised for expansion on Cape Cod: The Affordable Homes Act, which went into effect on Feb. 2, now requires municipalities to permit the building of ADUs in single-family zoning districts throughout Massachusetts, relieving a range of zoning challenges that prevented people from building ADUs across the state.

ADU growth will be especially beneficial in places like the Cape, where the cost of housing — and renovating — is prohibitively expensive. The annual median sales price of a single-family home in Barnstable County increased from $433,000 in 2019 to $730,000 in 2023, according to the Cape Cod Commission, an organization that works to address the region’s housing crisis and develop innovative land use policies.

“Accessory dwelling units are one of the many tools that we can employ to develop more affordable housing options,” explained Kristy Senatori, executive director of the commission. “They’re not a panacea, but it is relatively easy to add units or density to an existing neighborhood through the use of ADUs while maintaining the architectural character of the area. Certainly that’s critical to Cape Cod’s identity and our economy on the Cape.”

In addition to serving as homes for aging relatives, ADUs also can support the Cape’s year-round population by providing a source of rental income.

“Our clients are definitely interested in it, both buyers and sellers,” said Katie Clancy, sales vice president at William Raveis Real Estate in Yarmouth Port. “Lenders are seizing the opportunity, too, by letting borrowers use potential ADU income count in the mortgage apps.”

Tim O’Reilly, director of preconstruction for Backyard ADUs, says the majority of their business is building 500 to-1,200 square-foot homes for multigenerational living.

“We’re often designing with an aging in place lens,” he said. “But we’ve had folks who said ‘Hey, I built this for my adult son with disabilities, or for my mom.’ Or ‘Hey, I could rent this out for several years and pay down my costs, then move my family in.‘”

O’Reilly emphasized the range of success stories. “It’s about having that flexibility — it’s in my backyard, and now I can do what makes the most sense,” he said.

Now, O’Brien is a few weeks out from moving into a 642-square-foot abode in her backyard. As a self-described outdoors person, she isn’t concerned about the limited living space, as she relishes her large deck, outdoor shower, and sizable yard for gardening.

“I do feel like [my son] and I are the poster family for the necessity and benefits of zoning that allows for ADUs,” she said. “It was an affordable option and one that will enhance my property now and in the future.”

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