Research snapshot · Development · 31 August 2026

Accessory dwelling unit across the country: 179 towns on the record, the pace easing

This page is a snapshot, cut 31 August 2026, of a topic that moves. Below is the shape of the movement, read from the towns' own meeting records, and the way to get a view of it that stays current.

Already Known topic.Our definition of the class, 29 August 2026.

Snapshot taken 31 August 2026, based on 323 dated municipal records flagged as accessory dwelling unit, spanning 179 municipalities across 32 states. The topic moves; a later cut supersedes this page.

What this page is for one topic at state or national scope, told as a story: how it arrived, the shape of its movement, a dated snapshot of a moving record, and the door to a view of it that stays current. If it does not, write to us; that is what changes the next edition.

The story so far

The record starts in state not recorded, 11 June 2007. Since then 179 municipalities in 32 states have put the topic on a meeting record, at very different speeds: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine hold 61% of the dated events between them.

The last 90 days put 13 meetings on the record, well down from 78 in the 90 days before.

It runs through the rooms where budgets and ordinances are made: Planning Board, Planning Commission and Legislature — 194th General Court.

The shape of the movement

Dated meetings on the record at this scope, quarter by quarter, and the same 90-day count as a rolling line, whose right-hand point is that number. Counts of documents, never a reading of what they decided.
QuarterMeetingsTownsStates
Sep 2025 to Nov 202531167
Dec 2025 to Feb 2026925523
Mar 2026 to May 2026816419
Jun 2026 to Aug 2026 (current)14138

a rolling 90-day total, so the right-hand point is that same 90-day count. The busiest stretch was Dec 2025 to Feb 2026, with 92 meetings.

Where it is moving32 states

The same topic at different speeds in different states. A state's name opens its own page where one exists.
StateTowns on the recordMeetings, 90 daysLatest
New Hampshire4222026-06-18
Massachusetts3322026-06-11
Maine2812026-06-08
California912026-06-25
Utah93 ▼ -50.0%2026-06-23
Vermont702026-05-14
New York62 ▲ +100.0%2026-06-23
Connecticut lighter read41 ▼ -50.0%2026-08-05
Washington lighter read402026-03-25
Rhode Island lighter read202026-04-13
Hawaii lighter read202026-03-18
Arizona lighter read202026-02-23
Iowa lighter read202026-03-05
Colorado lighter read202026-03-18
Maryland lighter read202026-02-18

And 17 more states on the record, in an account view.

From the record

The most recent documents behind this page, one per town. Each link opens the town's own file.

5 August 2026 · East Hampton, Connecticut

the agenda, on the town's own site Agenda — 2026-08-05

17 July 2026 · Bellefonte, Delaware

the ordinance, on the town's own site COMMITTEE REPORTS. Summary Notes Ordinance Ad Hoc Committee – July 14, 2026

25 June 2026 · Nevada County, California Planning Commission

the agenda, on the town's own site Nevada County Planning Commission Regular Meeting - June 25, 2026

23 June 2026 · Roy, Utah Planning Commission

the minutes, on the town's own site Planning Commission — Agenda - 06-23-26

Companies on this record528 companies, 176 documents

Named in the same documents that carry this topic, read from the record itself: the firms designing, building and advising the work, each with where the record places them:
ComcastChester, Franklin, Medford and 1 more
EversourceCandia, Chester, Tamworth
VerizonBellefonte, Franklin, Medford
Weston & SampsonNewbury, Rockland, Webster
Central Mass Mosquito Control Project (CMMCP)Grafton
Casella Waste SystemsDouglas, Hartford
SNHPCAuburn, Chester
Tighe & BondStratham, Webster
VeoliaHartford, Rockland
Circle-WoodburnMaui County
CRMCPortsmouth
DeakosMaui County
Dragon Dynamite Fireworks LLCClinton
Drummond & WoodsumGorham
ElizaresMaui County
EPICHartford
FatCatsClinton
Four Seasons Resort MauiMaui County
Franklin-Verra & Associates, Inc.Candia
Jim O’BrienPlaistow
Kate L.K. BlystoneMaui County
KealohaMaui County
Maine Drug Enforcement AgencyBangor
ModernaGrafton
MUNEKIYO HIRAGA, INC.Maui County
OpenGovPortsmouth
Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp.Portsmouth
Senate Health and Human ServicesState of RI
WRPSRockland
AARPDeerfield

And 498 more companies.

The documents naming each, and the threads they sit in, are the account view. If one of these is you, those are your projects on the record. Ask and we will show you every one, and the towns around them, as they move.

A snapshot of a moving record

Everything above is frozen at 31 August 2026; the topic is not. 36 more events on this topic carry no usable date and are counted, never dated. The counts follow where we read most: a town or a state absent here was not read at depth, and absence is not evidence the topic is absent there. A lighter-read state is not a ceiling; where you care about a region, pointing the system there is the first thing an account changes. How coverage is built, and its known limits: municipalalpha.com/methodology.

How we can tell you about it ongoing

We track this topic continuously; this page is one cut of it, taken 31 August 2026. An account turns the snapshot into a working view: every town and every document behind these counts, the thread on each matter as it develops, word of new meetings as they land on the record, your own states and topics side by side, and the data itself when you want it in a table. The towns above are the taste; what each is actually deciding, funding or stalling is the read an account carries.

Each state's name above opens its own page. Counts and dates are computed from the documents on the record; the topic and its definition are ours. This page carries no subscriber content.

Accessory dwelling unit, across the country

from the towns' own meeting records

Scope

Across the country

Area

Development

every topic in this area

Towns on the record

179

with a dated document on this topic

States on the record

32

counted from the record

Earliest

11 June 2007

the documents' dates

Meetings, last 90 days

13 against 78 before

dated documents

Snapshot cut

31 August 2026

this page's date

A view that stays current

ask for yours