Bill > LD2003

Introduced Session

This bill makes changes to zoning and land use laws based upon the recommendations in the report of the Commission To Increase Housing Opportunities in Maine by Studying Zoning and Land Use Restrictions. The bill: 1. Amends the fair housing provisions of the Maine Human Rights Act to define the terms "character of a location," "overcrowding of land" and "concentration of the population" and to prohibit municipalities and government entities from using these criteria to restrict the construction or development of housing accommodations in any area; 2. Establishes the Municipal Housing Development Permit Review Board, which is responsible for the review of municipal housing development permit decisions; 3. Prohibits municipalities from adopting any ordinance that caps the number of building or development permits each year for any kind of residential dwellings; 4. Requires the Department of Economic and Community Development to develop a program to provide technical assistance to municipalities for the purposes of developing and implementing zoning and land use ordinances; 5. Requires the Department of Economic and Community Development to implement a program to provide grants to municipalities for the purposes of contracting for services and hiring staff to help administer municipal responsibilities in developing and implementing zoning and land use ordinances and appropriates $1,294,680 for that program in fiscal year 2022-23; 6. Requires the Department of Economic and Community Development to create an incentive program that a municipality may participate in for up to 3 years and receive grants of up to $25,000 per year for fulfilling certain requirements related to reviewing how its zoning and land use ordinances may impact the availability of housing; 7. Defines "affordable housing development," requires municipalities to allow affordable housing developments to be built at certain densities and sets certain criteria to ensure that an affordable housing development remains affordable for at least 30 years; 8. Requires, for any zone in which housing is permitted, that a municipality permit structures with up to 4 dwelling units and creates general requirements for municipal ordinances governing residential zones; 9. Beginning April 20, 2023, requires municipalities to allow the construction of accessory dwelling units and sets out specific requirements for the permitting and construction of accessory dwelling units; and 10. Requires that a municipality designate an area within the municipality as a priority development zone, which is defined as a zone in which multifamily housing is permitted at a greater density, and requires the priority development zone to be located in an area that has significant potential for housing development and is located near community resources. Municipalities are not required to designate a priority development zone until 2 years following adoption of rules by the Department of Economic and Community Development.

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Ryan Fecteau (D)*,  Amy Arata (R),  Craig Hickman (D), 

Senate: S-A to C-A (S-641) - Senate: S-A to C-A (S-641) (on 04/25/2022)

Official Document