Housing This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
The Maine Legislature is advancing changes that will allow for denser housing development, but it once again scrapped the idea of a state board that could overturn local planning decisions.
It’s an example of how lawmakers are still wrestling with conflicts between their efforts to address the housing crisis and the tradition of local control that leaves this policy area to cities and towns. Maine is lagging the recommendations of a report that said it needs at least 76,000 new housing units by 2030 to meet current and future demand.
House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, began the year with an aggressive housing agenda that aimed to build on his 2022 reform law that made cities and towns develop affordable housing standards, allowed two units on lots zoned for one and allowed homeowners to build in-law apartments without seeking local approval.
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He was able to win bipartisan support for changes that are chiefly aimed at increasing density, but one item that he had to strike from the landmark law three years ago reared its head again.
That was a statewide board that would consider appeals from developers or citizens who disagree with local planning decisions. As of now, developers can only appeal a planning board decision in Superior Court, something that they say stretches out the process and allows opponents to easily add costs to projects even if they don’t win their case.
In 2022, Fecteau envisioned an independent board with members appointed by the governor. This year, he proposed putting it within the state’s court system. But that idea faced pushback from the swamped judicial system as well as the Maine Municipal Association and other proponents of home rule at a public hearing.
Fecteau decided to pull it from his zoning reform proposal, although discussions around the subject will continue into 2025 as part of another bill from Rep. Traci Gere, D-Kennebunkport.
“[Fecteau’s bill] improves zoning policies to make it easier to build affordable and missing middle housing,” Gere said. “We’re carrying over bills that tackle other ideas, like a housing development resolution board and improving land use policies, and will be working on them over the next year.”
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Enacting new mandates on cities and towns requires a two-thirds vote of both chambers of the Legislature, and it was clear the package would not get there with the board included.
“It was too controversial,” Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford, a member of the housing panel, said.
The committee gave unanimous approval to a bill that Fecteau is now calling “Zoning Reform 2.0.” It allows up to three units per lot across the state and moves the threshold for triggering stricter subdivision reviews from three units currently to five units. Sprinklers would not be required for in-law apartments, hewing to concerns from builders.
Many of the changes will be voluntary for cities and towns, applying only to those that have designated areas for growth in accordance with the 2022 law. For example, it would bar minimum lot sizes of more than 5,000 square feet and bars growth caps in those areas.
In a Facebook post, Fecteau said the bill “empowers everyday Mainers to be part of solving our housing crunch.”
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“This strong bipartisan vote is indicative of the shared sense of urgency to address housing shortfalls in communities across Maine,” he wrote.
AUGUSTA, Maine (WABI) – An emotional day from Fairfield to Augusta, but felt throughout Maine and beyond, as state officials, community members and loved ones honored the lives of two Department of Transportation workers who tragically died in the field.
Maine DOT Commissioner Dale Doughty described the accident as “the nightmare that commissioners worry about.”
While working on Interstate 95 in January, Maine DOT workers James “Jimmy” Brown, 60, and Dwayne Campbell, 51, died after a driver failed to brake at a stop sign and crashed into a tractor-trailer traveling on the highway.
To honor the men’s commitment to public service and their legacy as fathers, outdoorsmen and Mainers, a procession including DOT officials, family members and more traveled to the Augusta Civic Center Saturday for a memorial service.
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Among those in attendance was Gov. Janet Mills, who remarked on who Brown and Campbell were and their dedication to their profession.
“Jimmy, as you know, worked for the Maine Department of Transportation for 12 years. Dwayne for more than 23 years,” Mills described. “We could count on Jimmy and Dwayne just as we could count on the 1,600 Maine dot workers who keep our roads and bridges safe every day.”
Brown was known for his humor and love of fishing, cars and his children.
Campbell got his start in the DOT by following in his father’s footsteps. Mills said at the service that Campbell loved his daughters and time spent outdoors.
For Commissioner Doughty, losses like this hit hard because of the closely bonded “family business” that DOT is.
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That family expands past state lines, as departments of transportation from New Hampshire and Vermont were present to show their support.
New Hampshire DOT State Maintenance Engineer Alan Hanscom said he called Maine DOT just hours after hearing of the accident to see what his crews could do to help.
“My employees are impacted or subject to the same dangers that Maine and every other state is,” Hanscom said of the importance of his attendance. “I have an employee that was killed in a motor vehicle crash some years ago, so it kind of hits home.”
Saturday’s event served not only as a commemoration but also as a call to action. Despite DOT’s training, Doughty says it is rendered useless if motorists put right-of-way employees in danger through reckless or distracted driving.
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Hanscom expanded: “People don’t realize that this is our office. You’re driving through our office space. We’d like you to give us some consideration and slow down and be mindful of where we are. Give us a little respect.”
Doughty mentioned that these dangers extend beyond DOT workers to everyone who does roadside work. Because of this, he says, agencies must join forces to develop solutions.
“I really think it’s time, and we have a meeting coming up in April, where we pull all agencies and all companies that work in the right-of-way, contractors, utilities, everyone to start to talk about that message,” Doughty said.
On the podium, Doughty told audiences: “Please help us carry forward their memory, not only with tears, but with action.”
On Thursday, the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation authorized the Maine Turnpike Authority to conduct a pilot program for speed enforcement in work zones. The legislation is now headed to the House and Senate.
Despite retaliation from their employer, nurses affirm their commitment to their patients and their union
Over two years since Northern Maine Medical Center (NMMC) first formed their union and began bargaining in good faith for a first contract, nurses remain committed to the patients they serve, and to making their hospital the best place it can be for everyone. Union nurses at NMMC signed the letter they released today, which says in part:
“Over the past two years, you have no doubt heard about the conflict that has grown between the hospital and us.
We want you to know that we never asked for this fight. The initiative to organize our union was to protect ourselves and our patients, not to punish any individuals or the hospital as a whole.”
The nurses’ letter goes on to say that their immediate goals as a union include: winning safe staffing for nurses and patients, promoting transparency and accountability at NMMC, retaining our local providers and staff, and making their hospital sustainable for the long term.
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Terry Caron, RN and member of the nurses’ bargaining team said: “Two years ago, we decided to have a voice for ourselves and our patients by forming our union. The NMMC administration could have met us halfway, but it did not. It has only fought us and tried to punish us for speaking up. But we are as committed to our goals as ever. We will never stop fighting for our patients.”
NMMC nurses were joined today by Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry, gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson, and U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner. They echoed the nurses’ call for NMMC CEO Jeff Zewe to stop his retaliation against the nurses and to finalize the union contract for which the nurses have been bargaining for most of the past two years.
Maine State Nurses Association is part of National Nurses Organizing Committee, representing 4,000 nurses and other caregivers from Portland to Fort Kent. NNOC is an affiliate of National Nurses United, the largest and fastest-growing labor union of registered nurses in the United States with nearly 225,000 members nationwide.
Max McClung scored 12 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, and the Windy City Bulls went on a 15-2 run in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 121-106 win over the Maine Celtics in an NBA G League game Friday night at the Portland Expo.
Kevin Knox II added 30 points, 21 in the second half.
Amari Williams led the Celtics with 26 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Jalen Bridges made six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points, but the Celtics dropped to 2-8 in their last 10 games. Maine has lost four straight games at the Expo.
