Are there buildings in your community that are in a state of decline? Is new development happening at the edges of your town on land that was once working farms or forests? Do you have challenging properties that have environmental contamination?
Build Maine and partners from across the State have been working for the eighteen months to find solutions to these pressing community problems. Please help us support of LD 1694, “An Act to Create the Maine Redevelopment Land Bank Authority” by learning about the legislation and testifying in support on Thursday, May 13, at 9:30 am (details on how to testify below).
The redevelopment land bank working group includes municipal officials from Sanford, Rumford, and Caribou, along with regional planning organizations from the Androscoggin, Kennebec Valley, and Greater Portland, the Northern Maine Development Commission, as well as the Department of Environmental Protection. We came together to find a solution to a statewide problem: how to help communities deal with compromised or blighted properties and make it easier to redevelop in our village, town, and city centers.
LD 1694 seeks to establish the Maine Redevelopment Authority. It has two very distinct functions:
It authorizes the establishment of municipal, regional, and state Land Banks, which are focused on the conversion of vacant, abandoned, and tax delinquent properties into productive use. It will:
Provide a catalyst for new development and critical housing that the private market can’t support.
Focus resources on blighted, abandoned, and environmentally hazardous properties and buildings.
Provide support for neighborhoods in need of revitalization and redevelopment.
Address financial liabilities impacting the State and municipalities and increase long-term tax revenues.
Provide maximum flexibility for municipalities - they can establish their own land bank, join a regional organization, or enter an intergovernmental agreements with the state Redevelopment Authority.
Allow Maine's state government to rehabilitate state-owned properties more cost-efficiently; Michigan found that they were selling distressed state properties at a reduced rate, but then developers were turning back to the state for incentives. By utilizing a pro-active approach with their Land Bank, they were able to see a better return on their property investment.
It establishes the Development Ready Communities Program. This is a separate program that prioritizes funding for local projects with a strong financial return and that meet shared state and local economic, housing, environmental, transportation, and quality of life goals.
The program will align and coordinate state agency funding, policies, and procedures around locally identified projects and provide a path for municipalities and unorganized territories to prioritize investments and for the State to direct funding and resources into the hands of communities.
All municipalities and territories are eligible to become development ready communities and the program will be accessible to communities of all sizes and levels of capacity.
LD 1694 also Leverages Federal Resources:
Eighteen states currently have Land bank structures, and Maine is leaving significant federal funding in the table as a result. There are currently two pieces of federal legislation – one for $5 billion, and one that can access up to $60 million, that include funds for both the establishment and operational support for Land Banks.
LD 1694 also Meets our Economic Development and Climate Change Goals:
This legislation is not for a someday solution. It establishes tools to help our local communities solve the problems of identifying redevelopment goals now, and actively helps them plan for and redevelop those properties. It is an issue that is faced by the smallest towns and our most urban centers. Benefits of this legislation include supporting local quality of life, resiliency (both financially & environmentally), and utilizing existing infrastructure.
In many cases it can alleviate the need for new construction, thereby preventing new greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining existing carbon storage in the property.
If we are really going to tackle climate change and use our resources wisely, we need to focus housing in places where we have existing infrastructure - whether that’s our small crossroads, village centers, or bigger downtowns. The Maine Redevelopment Land Bank Authority is one of the few tools proposed this session which can actively create the 20,000 affordable housing units needed to meet the demand here in Maine. Land banks work effectively with housing authorities, local land trusts and entities such as Habitat for Humanity to transfer these properties that have been rehabilitated to then become affordable housing. They also work, for example, with environmental groups if the municipality has a need for green spaces, especially in its urban centers.
You may also find examples in your own community where this bill is needed. For example, the town of St. Francis in Aroostook County has a population of approximately 445 residents, and a total one and a half municipal positions.The town had a developer interested in redeveloping an empty local school building into an assisted living facility. The clean-up costs were prohibitive, and the town was unsuccessful getting USDA, brownfields, and CDBG funding to assist. Land Banks are often utilized for exactly these kind of projects, as they have the staffing, access to federal resources, and knowledge that can leveraged by even our smallest communities, to bring projects such as desperately needed senior housing to Aroostook County.
On March 17th at 9:00am, we gave an overview of proposed legislation that will create a Maine Redevelopment Land Bank Authority, bringing Federal and State dollars into the hearts of our communities through the creation of a Land Bank and Development Ready Community Program. This generational legislation will address the systematic disinvestment that plagues many of our communities and will incentivize development in the places that meet shared municipal and state goals to maximize investment.
If you have more questions, comments, or would like to testify on behalf of the Maine Redevelopment Land Bank Authority legislation, please contact connect@build-maine.com.
LD 1694 is sponsored by:
Lead Rep. Melanie Sachs of Freeport, D
Lead Co-sponsor in Senate: Senate President Troy Jackson, D
Senator Eloise Vitelli, Majority Leader, D
Sen. Matt Pouliot, Asst. Majority Leader, R
Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross, Asst. Majority Leader, D
Rep. Kristen Cloutier, Lewiston, D
Rep. Sue Bernard, Caribou, R
Rep. Anne Matlack, D
Rep. Kyle Bailey, D
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HOW TO TESTIFY IN SUPPORT OF LD 1694
If you’d like to support this bill, there are three options for providing testimony. Speaking live via zoom will be most effective and is the only way for the committee to know in advance how many people support this bill:
If you would like to testify live, which is the most effective, please register as soon as possible at the link below and indicate your support. Once you sign up, you will receive a confirmation email with a zoom link to the hearing. We recommend you sign up at the link below as soon as possible. If you want to also upload your written remarks, you can do that at any time before or shortly after the hearing by going back to the same link below. At the hearing, you will be given 3 minutes to speak, after which the committee members may ask you questions. It is ok to read your written remarks or prepare remarks that are different from your written testimony. You cannot share screens or show documents.
If you aren’t able to testify live but you are able to provide written remarks on letterhead, please go to the link below and follow instructions for uploading a PDF file. Written testimony should include the opening salutation below and may contain visuals or links.
If you are unable to testify live or submit thorough remarks on letterhead, please register at the link below, follow the instructions, and enter a few sentences in the written testimony field. Include the opening salutation (see below) and that you support the bill.
You will have to go to this link: https://www.mainelegislature.org/testimony/
You will click on Public Hearing.
You will then choose a committee: - Select one - Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement.
Then choose a date - Select one - May 13 2021 9:30AM.
Then choose the bill - LD 1694 - An Act To Create the Maine Redevelopment Land Bank Authority.
Then check the box to - I would like to present my testimony live.
Select - I am for the proposed legislation. **You only have the option of showing you support the bill when you click the box to provide live testimony.
Upload written testimony or type your brief remarks directly into the field.
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The way to begin testimony for this Committee is:
Good morning Senator Curry, Representative Roberts, and esteemed members of the Joint Standing Committee on Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement, and Business:
My name is _________ and I am here in full support of LD 1694, An Act to Create the Maine Redevelopment Land Bank Authority.
