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 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.