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.