Help Shape State Policy and Join a Working Group!

In spring 2024, GrowSmart Maine and Build Maine hosted three virtual brainstorming sessions with statewide partners to discuss and develop forward-thinking legislative proposals and prioritize policy actions for the 2025 legislative session. The results of this brainstorming effort can be found at our interactive Miro board, where participants posted ideas, and helped to sort and prioritize policy actions. From that work, the Policy Action "bus drivers", or working group leaders, distilled the Miro board down to 7 key policy actions that have energy behind them and that meet the goals of Policy Action.  

The working groups are open to anyone interested in helping do the work and advance the legislation. Please sign up to join a working group by clicking the button below. It makes sense for you to join a working group if you are passionate about the topic and can make time to engage in the work, if you can help write technical policy language, help with logistics or promotion, or can bring other energy to the work. Time commitments will likely be weekly or bi-weekly zoom calls with your working group, with potential for production time in between meetings, depending on your role.

Action Alert: Support Housing and Protect Working Lands!

Two public hearings are scheduled for Friday, January 5, 2024 at 9:00 am and another public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, January 9, 2024 before the Legislature's Joint Select Committee on Housing.  Details below.

LD 1672, An Act To Establish An Affordable Housing Permitting Process
- Public Hearing Friday, January 5, 9:00 am - 
This bill allows for well designed housing in areas that municipalities have designated for growth, but where zoning has not been updated to accommodate that housing. In such cases, a developer may pursue approval through the Affordable Housing Development Review Board, which reviews projects based on local municipal plans and review standards that ensure projects are high quality and meet local planning objectives.

Bill language can be found HERE. 
Talking points can be found HERE.

LD 1257, An Act To Increase Housing Capacity And Protect The Municipal Tax Base And Working Lands
- Public Hearing Friday, January 5, 9:00 am - 
This bill provides critical updates to subdivision law by simplifying the development review process in growth areas and reducing development pressure on working forest and farmlands designated as rural by communities. This bill also clarifies how to treat creation of multiple units within a building and works to align subdivision rules with LD 2003 to reduce some confusion and complexity for municipalities. 

Bill language can be found HERE. 
Talking points can be found HERE.

LD 602, An Act To Provide Regional Support To Deliver State And Federal Programs To Cities And Towns In The State 
- Public Hearing Tuesday, January 9, 1:00 pm - 
Provides direct resources to regional planning commissions for the development of municipal ordinances, the examination of regional suitability for new housing developments and the development of model ordinances for the benefit of large and small communities; efficient delivery of technical assistance through the existing regional planning commission structure to provide cities and towns access to federal and state programs for housing, land use and economic development; and improved mapping and geographic information system support to accomplish state and regional goals.

Bill language and talking points coming soon. 

The goal of Policy Action 2023 is to address barriers to and create incentives for equitable, sustainable growth and development that strengthens downtowns and villages of all sizes while pulling development pressure away from productive and open natural areas.  We do so acknowledging that Maine has urban, rural, and suburban settings for which any solution may/not be a fit and a variety of people who deserve to be welcomed to their communities.

The public hearings will be before the Legislature's Joint Select Committee on Housing.
 

Want to provide written testimony?

Begin your letter with:

Dear Senator Pierce, Representative Gere, and Members of the Joint Select Committee on Housing,

My name is [ ENTER NAME] and I live in [ ENTER TOWN]. 

Describe your reasons for supporting the bills.

Action Alert: Support Updates to the Growth Management Law!

LD 1976 - An Act to Update the Growth Management Law

LD 1976 provides a redline of Title 30-A, Chapter 187, the current Growth Management Law, to update and modernize the statute, which directs the Comprehensive Planning process used by municipalities across the State. This update is focused on the comprehensive planning process.

The recommended updates to the statute do the following:

• Emphasizes planning for the future, not the present and the past, with an emphasis on outcomes-based planning.

• Lifts the burden of comprehensive planning on communities small and large by eliminating the exhaustive inventory checklist.

• Gives municipalities the time and flexibility to focus on visioning and to more deeply explore issues of utmost importance to the community.

• Provides a tighter, leaner, faster process for working through a local comprehensive plan.

• Focuses inventory activities on critical natural systems and environmental systems mapping as the basis for local planning and conservation work.

• Creates a more nuanced and meaningful set of definitions for rural areas to help better protect working lands and critical natural areas.

• Redefines “growth areas” with recognizable placetypes such as crossroads, villages, neighborhoods, downtowns, and high-impact corridors. This updated framework better helps communities meet local goals and provides the foundation for effective policy and implementation.

• Expands the public process with suggestions for creative and effective engagement tools for increasing public participation.

• Affirms current statute by continuing to reward communities that undertake critical planning work.

The goal of Policy Action 2023 is to address barriers to and create incentives for equitable, sustainable growth and development that strengthens downtowns and villages of all sizes while pulling development pressure away from productive and open natural areas.  We do so acknowledging that Maine has urban, rural, and suburban settings for which any solution may/not be a fit and a variety of people who deserve to be welcomed to their communities.

Questions related to this bill? Reach out to the working group point person Vanessa Farr at vanessa@principle.us. 

The public hearing for LD 1976 is scheduled for November 14, 2023 at 10:00 am before the Legislature's Joint Select Committee on Housing.

Begin your letter with:

Dear Senator Pierce, Representative Gere, and Members of the Joint Select Committee on Housing,

My name is [ ENTER NAME] and I live in [ ENTER TOWN]. 

Describe your reasons for supporting LD 1976.

Action Alert: Support Thriving Corridors!

Action Alert: Support more housing in Maine along existing infrastructure!

A public hearing for LD 1673 is scheduled for Friday, May 12, 2023 at 9:00 am before the Legislature's Joint Select Committee on Housing.

LD 1673, An Act To Encourage Affordable Housing And Mixed-Use Development By Establishing A Thriving Corridors Program, establishes a program to assist municipalities in redeveloping high-impact corridors proximate to downtowns or village centers into mixed-use, mixed-income, walkable neighborhoods by enabling significant infill and redevelopment of underutilized land into housing and other uses.

The program will provide technical support and financial incentives to municipalities for: 

• Coordinating planning of the public street along with planning for the adjacent private land parcels.

• Developing policies and tools that allow for increased development of affordable housing and other uses along the corridors.

• Gaining public support for reconfiguration of the roadway to slow traffic, which may include the number of vehicle travel lanes and adding parking, protected bike lanes and/or sidewalks, to improve safety for all roadway users.  

• Establishing tax increment financing districts within  high-impact corridors to finance public improvements without adversely affecting revenue sharing. 

Benefits of the Bill:

• This program focuses energy and resources on underutilized land that has already been impacted and has significant potential for infill and redevelopment. It directs development to places that tend to be located on water and sewer, where people are generally supportive of additional development.

• Creates safer streets by replacing stop-and-go traffic that fluctuates between too fast and too slow with more consistent, slower flow movement that is safer for everyone and less frustrating for drivers.

• Provides a strategy for aligning land use and transportation goals to more effectively meet both while creating an opportunity for towns to generate taxable value, without impacting their revenue sharing.

Questions related to this bill? Reach out to the Policy Action 2023 Complete Streets working group point person Zoe Miller at zoe@movingmaine.org. 

The public hearing for LD 1752 is scheduled for Tuesday, May 9, 2023 at 1:00 pm before the Legislature's Joint Select Committee on Housing.
 

Begin your letter with:

Dear Senator Pierce, Representative Gere, and Members of the Joint Select Committee on Housing,

My name is [ ENTER NAME] and I live in [ ENTER TOWN]. 

Describe your reasons for supporting LD 1673.

The goal of Policy Action 2023 is to address barriers to and create incentives for equitable, sustainable growth and development that strengthens downtowns and villages of all sizes while pulling development pressure away from productive and open natural areas.  We do so acknowledging that Maine has urban, rural, and suburban settings for which any solution may/not be a fit and a variety of people who deserve to be welcomed to their communities.

For information on all Policy Action 2023 bills, click HERE.

Action Alert: Support Pre-Approved Building Types

LD 1752 - Resolve to Prepare Pre-Approved Building Types

This resolve directs the state to develop a catalog of engineered-stamped building plans in compliance with the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code. Municipalities may then choose to adopt any or all of the available pre-approved building plans within locally designated growth areas. Communities that opt into approving building types will offer an expedited review process for any proposed development that incorporates the pre-approved buildings.  

Pre-approved buildings should be prepared so that the detail, design, and material specifications strike a balance between local architectural precedent and the cost of construction. Wherever possible, materials should be specified that are durable, repairable, and will be long-lasting in the local climate. Proposals which include plan sets incorporating best practices and contemporary standards for efficiency and resiliency will be given greater weight in selection criteria by the state.

This voluntary municipal process:

• Is particularly well-suited to rural municipalities which may not have the staff  or high-capital developers willing to invest. 

• Provides a toolkit for municipalities to help incentivize development that is supported by the community. 

• Lowers the cost of housing by reducing the time associated with securing project approvals.

• Encourages residents to engage in local decision-making before a specific development proposal is being considered.

• Removes systemic barriers to small developers who may not have the resources for design services knowledge of municipal approval processes.

Informational presentations on the concept can be found at the links below:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg4SZjRnaX8

• https://youtu.be/BygzsJ58ytI 
  

The goal of Policy Action 2023 is to address barriers to and create incentives for equitable, sustainable growth and development that strengthens downtowns and villages of all sizes while pulling development pressure away from productive and open natural areas.  We do so acknowledging that Maine has urban, rural, and suburban settings for which any solution may/not be a fit and a variety of people who deserve to be welcomed to their communities.

Questions related to this bill? Reach out to the working group point person Galen Weibley at gweibley@presqueisleme.us. 

The public hearing for LD 1752 is scheduled for Tuesday, May 9, 2023 at 1:00 pm before the Legislature's Joint Select Committee on Housing.
 

Begin your letter with:

Dear Senator Pierce, Representative Gere, and Members of the Joint Select Committee on Housing,

My name is [ ENTER NAME] and I live in [ ENTER TOWN]. 

Describe your reasons for supporting LD 1752.

Action Alert: Support Safer Roadways Across Maine!

A public hearing for LD 1711 is scheduled for Tuesday, May 2, 2023 at 1:00 pm before the Legislature's Transportation Committee.

LD 1711, An Act to Provide for Safe Roadway Construction Design Criteria proposes to update MRSA §73, sub-§7 to establish safe roadway construction design criteria. The bill does the following:

• Requires that safety metrics, crash data, and local economic significance based on a value per acre analysis are used by MaineDOT as factors to determine the classification of state roadways and funding and asset management priorities.

• Establishes a MaineDOT review process for developing transportation construction project design controlling criteria that prioritize safety and requires MaineDOT to develop certain rules to administer the criteria based on standards developed by certain governmental agencies and professional transportation organizations. 

• Requires MaineDOT to develop rules pertaining to certain pedestrian facilities and bicycle facilities to provide transparent standards and ensure that a set of minimum standards for safety are met.

Benefits of the Bill:

• Establishes an equitable transportation priority system to aid in the department's transportation capital improvement program by incorporating key safety, crash, and economic metrics. This will result in a program that is geographically balanced and addresses rural and urban transportation needs equally.  

• Establishes pedestrian and bicycle design criteria based on best practices to improve comfort and safety outcomes.

• Provides more transparent design standards.

• Establishes a diverse design review committee incorporating experts in urban design, planning, economic development, and bicycle and pedestrian safety to ensure a holistic design approach that takes into account all the complex factors that impact streets.

Questions related to this bill? Reach out to the Policy Action 2023 Complete Streets working group point person Matthew Pelletier at matthewpelletier44@gmail.com.

A public hearing for LD 1711 is scheduled for Tuesday, May 2, 2023 at 1:00 pm before the Legislature's Transportation Committee.

Begin your letter with:

Dear Senator Chipman, Representative Williams, and Honorable Members of the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation,

My name is [ ENTER NAME] and I live in [ ENTER TOWN]. 

Describe your reasons for supporting LD 1711.

Action Alert: Support reinvigorating and investing in Maine’s public transit system!

PACTS Destination 2040

LD 1559, An Act to Advance the State's Public Transit Systems by Reinvigorating the Public Transit Advisory Council and Increasing Funding, will improve and strengthen the role of the state in order to support local transit operators, employers, commuters, and our climate goals. There are numerous measures, which include the following:

• The bill strengthens the Public Transit Advisory Council (PTAC). The PTAC is a statewide group intended to assess current level of service and recommend improvements. This bill expands the role of the PTAC, while also diversifying its representation by adding members in labor, immigrant communities, and youth climate activism. It also calls for an additional transit operator. Additionally, the bill expands the role of the PTAC to develop a statewide plan, addressing how to achieve the standards of adequate access; develops a statewide mobility management program, improving coordination of the transit systems for mobility needs; and calls for submission of a report to MeDOT for anticipated statewide transit funding.

• The bill provides a one time appropriation of $25M. This investment will supplement the operating and capital needs for transit operators within the current transit plan, create a mobility management program, and expand transit planning assistance for rural communities.

• The bill provides a one time appropriation of $13.6M. As federal operating subsidies for transit expire this year, this appropriation will make sure that transit operates at its current level of service.

• The bill amends the Sensible Transportation Policy Act. This act guides MeDOT decision-making on transportation planning, capital investment and project decisions. The act is amended to include commitments to expanded public transit, as well as Maine’s climate goals. A full set of talking points can be found HERE.

Questions related to this bill? Reach out to the Policy Action 2023 Complete Streets working group point person Cole Cochrane at colelondon295@gmail.com. 

A public hearing for LD 1559 is scheduled for Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at 1:00 pm before the Legislature's Transportation Committee.

Begin your letter with:

Dear Senator Chipman, Representative Williams, and Honorable Members of the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation,

My name is [ ENTER NAME] and I live in [ ENTER TOWN]. 

Describe your reasons for supporting the legislation.

Action Alert: Support making roadway safety the first priority in Maine!

LD 1566 is a resolve to establish a state-level task force to lead Maine in building a strong, actionable foundation for safe mobility. The task force will convene a public process guided by Vision Zero – which acknowledges that even one death on our transportation system is unacceptable. Vision Zero focuses on safe mobility for all road users, through policies and system design rather than individual behavior. The approach is being successfully used in hundreds of states and municipalities.

The task force will identify the most effective actions to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries through:

• Developing a comprehensive and coordinated action plan for Maine including short-term and long-term strategies with measurable goals and target dates.

• Promoting effective and transparent collection and dissemination of traffic safety data.

• Providing recommendations for changes to state, county, and municipal street design standards, state laws and municipal ordinances.

The task force will be composed of 22 members, including legislators, representatives from state agencies, professionals from the private sector, and members of the public sector with direct experience in traffic safety-related incidents. The Task Force is intended to have an ongoing role as an advisory body to MaineDOT and municipalities.  A full set of talking points can be found HERE.

LD 1566 - A Resolve to Establish a Vision Zero Task Force to Recommend Strategies to Achieve the Goal of Eliminating Traffic Fatalities and Serious Injuries is scheduled for public hearing on Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at 1:00 pm and would advance key recommendations of Policy Action 2023, a state-wide public crowdsourcing effort convened by GrowSmart Maine and Build Maine that began in spring 2022.

The goal of Policy Action 2023 is to address barriers to and create incentives for equitable, sustainable growth and development that strengthens downtowns and villages of all sizes while pulling development pressure away from productive and open natural areas.  We do so acknowledging that Maine has urban, rural, and suburban settings for which any solution may/not be a fit and a variety of people who deserve to be welcomed to their communities.

Questions related to this bill? Reach out to the Policy Action 2023 Complete Streets working group point person Zoe Miller at zoe@movingmaine.org. 

A public hearing for LD 1566 is scheduled for Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at 1:00 pm before the Legislature's Transportation Committee.

Begin your letter with:

Dear Senator Chipman, Representative Williams, and Honorable Members of the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation,

My name is [ ENTER NAME] and I live in [ ENTER TOWN]. 

Describe your reasons for supporting the legislation.

Action Alert: Support Making Needed Updates to the Subdivision Statute.

Communities across Maine want lower speeds but currently must wait for permission from the Maine Department of Transportation. LD 1634 empowers municipalities to set slower speeds without a speed study conducted by the MaineDOT and without assuming responsibility for setting or managing the speed limits on all roads.

Speed limits may be lowered by  up to 10 miles per hour to no lower than a speed limit of 20 miles per hour and to make physical changes to a road in those areas to promote better compliance with posted speed limits. The bill also requires a municipality that has changed a speed limit to review any safety deficiencies, seek public input and report to the Legislature for a period of 5 years data on before and after motor vehicle speeds, pedestrian counts and bicycle counts. A full set of talking points can be found HERE.

LD 1634 - An Act to Grant Municipalities the Authority to Set Certain Lower Motor Vehicle Speed Limits Without a Department of Transportation Speed Study is scheduled for public hearing on Tuesday, April 25, 2023 and would advance key recommendations of Policy Action 2023, a state-wide public crowdsourcing effort convened by GrowSmart Maine and Build Maine that began in spring 2022.

The goal of Policy Action 2023 is to address barriers to and create incentives for equitable, sustainable growth and development that strengthens downtowns and villages of all sizes while pulling development pressure away from productive and open natural areas.  We do so acknowledging that Maine has urban, rural, and suburban settings for which any solution may/not be a fit and a variety of people who deserve to be welcomed to their communities.

Questions related to this bill? Reach out to the Policy Action 2023 Complete Streets working group point person Zoe Miller at zoe@movingmaine.org. 

A public hearing for LD 1634 is scheduled for Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at 1:00 pm before the Legislature's Transportation Committee.

Begin your letter with:

Dear Senator Chipman, Representative Williams, and Honorable Members of the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation,

My name is [ ENTER NAME] and I live in [ ENTER TOWN]. 

Describe your reasons for supporting the legislation.

Help Shape State Policy and Join a Working Group!

Since the spring, GrowSmart Maine and Build Maine have been convening statewide partners to discuss and develop forward-thinking legislative proposals. The current effort builds on work that has been ongoing since 2019, involving hundreds of people across the state. We want to share the current slate of legislation and most importantly, we want your feedback to strengthen each proposal in time for the 2023 legislative session.

In spring 2022, we hosted three virtual brainstorming sessions to prioritize policy actions for the 2023 legslative session. The results of this effort can be found at our interactive Miro board, where participants posted ideas, and helped to sort and prioritize policy actions. https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVOGiZJvQ=/?share_link_id=289269622616

From that work, we arrived at 8 key policy actions. Those were presented at the Build Maine conference in Skowhegan in June 2022, where we gathered additional feedback and direction. Since that time, 8 working groups have been meeting to advance the proposals. The results of this incredible collective work was presented at the GrowSmart Maine Summit in October 2022. Work continues to shape these proposals into legislation in time for the upcoming session. The 8 Policy Actions that we are moving forward can be found here:

The working groups are open to anyone interested in helping do the work and advance the legislation. Please sign up to join a working group by clicking the button below. It makes sense for you to join a working group if you are passionate about the topic and can make time to engage in the work, if you can help write technical policy language, help with logistics or promotion, or can bring other energy to the work. Time commitments will likely be weekly or bi-weekly zoom calls with your working group, with potential for production time in between meetings, depending on your role.

Housing Playbook for Maine Towns Released

A new article in Maine Town & City highlights the many housing challenges Maine communities are facing amidst the global pandemic COVID-19. As out-of-state residents ditch their cramped city apartments for the ease of life in Maine, they are pricing out existing Mainers while exposing long-time problems with our housing. The article lays out a new housing playbook that is relevant to communities all over the state. The playbook offers in-depth explanations of the barriers that stand in the way of building housing and what can be done to remove them. As we phase into a post-pandemic world, we can usher in a new era of Maine housing that works for everyone.

Resolution for Community Reinvestment

It’s time to reinvest in Maine.

Maine has a chance to work ground up through the complex fabric of our communities, regional governments, non-profits, and state to find a path toward a more a local, scrappy, frugal, tough, independent, and caring future.  Build Maine is asking towns, cities, regional councils of governments, non-profits, professional groups, and individuals to sign the Resolution for Community Reinvestment as well as review and provide comments on draft policy recommendations as we continue to move forward.  We have an incredible need right now to find broader communities of people, to overlook minor differences and build bigger coalitions, to work together with neighbors to find a path forward that we generally agree is good for our communities and our state.

Development Ready Communities + Land Banks Provide Path to Investment

The first step in the process was to develop a shared understanding of our state’s collection of procedures, rules, and cultural forces that produce our existing patterns of land development.  A draft “system map”, the culmination of the past 6 months of work involving over 70 individuals, is available for review and comment.

This system mapping work lead to the current effort to identify policy recommendations and other solutions that will produce better fiscal, economic, environmental, and quality of life outcomes for our state. This work has been taking place since February and has resulted in several initiatives, including:

If you are interested, please email connect@build-maine.com for more information and to get involved!

What if there was a way for Maine to directly reinvest in the hearts of our communities? To help repair our crumbling downtown infrastructure? To breath new life into our historic neighborhoods and village crossroads? To support working agriculture and working forests? To support Mainers where they are?

Beginning in August 2019, Build Maine initiated a “call to action” focused on addressing patterns of development that our State cannot financially sustain and that are at odds with our quality of life, sense of identity, the tourism economy, efforts to attract a workforce, housing and transportation needs, and our environmental goals. The work involved a diverse and expanding group of leaders from across the state and from varied disciplines who understand the current system, and who are in a position to help change it.  

• Draft legislation for a Maine Redevelopment Land Bank, which will help communities get properties back into productive reuse.  

• Development Ready Communities Framework, which will inform how the State and Municipalities work together and align state funding with local projects that provide a positive return on investment.

The recommendations that come out of this current process will support important work happening at the State level, increase understanding of bigger picture issues, and identify opportunities to align efforts between sectors, municipalities, the non-profit sector, regional, and state government.