Scituate Planning Board Approves Beaver Dam Road ADU, Continues Dunbar Lane Application

SCITUATE — March 26, 2026 — Scituate Planning Board approves one large ADU permit and sends a second back for redesign. The board unanimously approved a special permit for a 1,349-square-foot accessory dwelling unit at 35 Beaver Dam Road, owned by James and Sally Ritchie as trustees of the Ritchie Living Trust, finding the ADU at 39.7 percent of the principal dwelling's floor area just under the 40 percent cap allowed under Zoning Bylaw Section 530. A second application, from Gregory and Cara Kelleher for a detached 1,367-square-foot ADU at 7 Dunbar Lane, was continued to April 23 after the town planner and Building Commissioner determined that the structure's walkout basement — nine-foot ceilings, French doors, and windows — must be counted as gross floor area, pushing the unit over the 40 percent limit. Engineer Gregory Morris of Morris Engineering, representing the Kellehers, offered to drop the basement ceiling below seven feet to remove the habitability designation, but the board said the fix must appear on revised plans before it will write findings. Three abutters raised concerns about the structure's three-story appearance from downslope lots, dual street access off First Parish Road, and an outstanding conservation order from a prior renovation that has not been closed after three years.