Voters at spring Town Meeting approved the implementation of a new housing bylaw and restricted all future large ground mounted solar construction to a specific area in town.

Town Meeting was held Monday, April 28 at Wareham High School and voters decided to implement two laws that were previously pushed for further study.

Accessory dwelling units are a second, smaller residence that can be built on properties zoned single family. They were legalized by the state last summer and at the Jan. 13 Special Town Meeting, voters approved a moratorium, delaying the implementation of the law to give town officials more time to draft their own bylaws.

The new bylaws were presented by Director of Planning and Community Development Josh Faherty on Monday with the two areas of focus being required parking for accessory dwelling units and who can build them.

Under the new bylaw, accessory dwelling units must provide one, off-street parking space unless it is within a half mile of a bus or commuter rail station.

Under the new version of the bylaws, a bus station is a location where people can get on and off a bus operated by a transit authority.

Faherty explained accessory dwelling units cannot be constructed on properties owned by a corporation, real estate investment trust, or any similar investment entity.

What this means is only individuals, LLCs, trusts or S Corporations — but only if every owner is a real person, not a business entity — can build an accessory dwelling unit on their property. In order to do so, they must first register with the Board of Health.

Other restrictions on accessory dwelling units include: only one is allowed on a property as of right, the footprint cannot exceed that of the principal dwelling, the the size of the accessory dwelling unit cannot exceed 50% of the gross floor area of the principal dwelling or 900 square feet, whichever is smaller and the accessory dwelling unit must have its own entrance.

Faherty said that prior to voters deciding to restrict where large ground mounted solar installations could be built, developers had access to build a solar development in 72% of Wareham, now that number is down to 17%.

Voters approved restricting all future large ground mounted solar construction to a 1,300 acre area north of I-495 known as the Business Development Overlay District.

Faherty said restricting solar development to this area does not change the fact that a solar development cannot be built without a special permit and site plan review by the Planning Board.

Town Meeting was not completed on Monday. More agenda items will be voted on Tuesday, April 29 at 7 p.m. at Wareham High School.