LD 2003
“An Act to Implement the Recommendations of the Commission to Increase Housing Opportunities in Maine by Studying Zoning and Land Use Restrictions”
Similar to the changes to the net-metering statute in 2019 , LD 2003 seeks to ambitiously address a big social problem quickly. In doing so, a hastily written legislative document was enacted without broad stakeholder input, with easily identified flaws and indifference to municipal impacts. (see more discussion under MMA Legislative Policy Cmte)
Like every new and sweeping piece of legislation, the actual scope and parameters of LD 2003 will be determined through case law. Over the course of a year, I became a subject matter expert on this legislation for the primary purpose of NOT having the Town of Eliot shoulder the cost of litigating that case law. In so doing, I was able to take the lead on responding to rulemaking and positioned the Eliot Planning Board to draft ordinance amendments two and three election cycles in advance of the amended statutory deadline (7/1/2024 for our Select Board form of government).
While the legislature hurried approval of LD 2003 to meet the end of its last regular session, it took the state another 5 months to staff the new program within the Department of Economic and Community Development it created.
In turn, it took another 3 months for a municipal guidance document to be created and another 8 months for proposed rules to be drafted. Rulemaking was finalized in May 2023, less than 3 months before the statutory deadline for compliance.
Eliot performed analysis of our land use ordinance and identified that only minor changes would need to occur to make our Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) ordinance compliant. So we proposed the necessary amendments along with some discretionary amendments that were passed in June 2023.
Four different legislative documents (LD’s) were proposed during the first regular session of the 131st legislature. Some proposed to correct errors and omissions in LD 2003, others sought to modify the statute and one (LD 665), drafted by the Maine Municipal Association, proposed simply to extend the deadline for municipal compliance.
Final rulemaking by the Department of Economic and Community Development in May 2023 also identified a number of needed amendments.
LD 1709 was amended and passed to correct errors, omissions, rulemaking needs and a compromise extension of the statutory deadline. As a result, Eliot needed to amend its ADU ordinance again and tackle the remainder of the LD 2003 mandates.
Throughout this process, I felt strongly that the citizens and the Select Board needed to know the why, what and how of the 37 pages of proposed ordinance amendments relating to housing. Most particularly, because the winter Comprehensive Plan survey revealed that only 40% of Eliot residents felt concern about housing costs and opportunities.
My role on the MMA LPC and prior experience in the NGO sector involved a lot of education and advocacy. But in the role of a municipal official I could only advocate as a citizen. As a Planning Board member I could only educate.
I succeeded in getting time before the Select Board at the end of June to present an overview of the “why” and “what”. I also shared that the Planning Board felt there was a need for citizen education beyond the routine posting of the ordinance on the Town’s website.
It took many drafts, focus group presentations and discussions with Town hall staff, but a plain spoken explanation of all three questions proposed by the Planning Board on the November 2023 ballot was posted onto the Town’s website.
