These housing reforms are moving forward in the Maine Legislature

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.

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.”

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.”

“This strong bipartisan vote is indicative of the shared sense of urgency to address housing shortfalls in communities across Maine,” he wrote.