AUGUSTA – Lawmakers appear ready to scale back or repeal a four-year-old law that allows cities and towns to consider the economic impact of large-scale retail development in deciding whether to approve such projects.

Supporters of the Informed Growth Act say it reveals the hidden costs that come with big-box stores, such as local shops going out of business and expenses increasing for municipalities. Those who favor repeal say the law discourages development and competition.

The Legislature’s State and Local Government Committee held a nearly five-hour public hearing Wednesday on a bill to repeal the law.

The bill’s supporters include Gov. Paul LePage, Walmart Stores Inc., the Maine Municipal Association, the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and groups representing developers and real estate agents.

Opponents include the Maine Small Business Coalition, the Maine chapter of the Sierra Club and several residents in the midcoast.

Midcoast Maine has become a battleground in recent years over the issue of how to protect the character and economic health of traditional downtowns, such as those in Belfast and Thomaston, from competition from Walmart.

Walmart, which took in $408 billion in revenue in 2009, has all the money it needs to push for its own interests, said Albie Davis of Thomaston. Communities need the Informed Growth Act to help level the playing field, she told the committee.

It’s dangerous to assume that what’s good for big business is good for small business and Maine’s communities, said Melanie Collins of the Maine Small Business Coalition.

“We need the Informed Growth Act to make sure big corporations won’t come in, take our customers, kill our small businesses and quality jobs and ruin our local economy,” she said in a letter to the committee.

The sponsor of L.D. 322, which would repeal the Informed Growth Act, said communities should embrace competition, rather than prohibit businesses.

“The idea of government telling businesses how they can operate or not — I’m against that fundamentally,” said Rep. Tyler Clark, R-Easton.

Kate Knox, a lobbyist for Walmart, which has 22 stores in Maine, said the Informed Growth Act raises the level of uncertainty in the development review process.

“It’s very subjective,” she said of the law. “That’s the kind of thing that slows development.”

The Informed Growth Act requires the developer of any store that’s 75,000 square feet or larger to pay $40,000 for an independent economic-impact study. The local planning board can use the study as it decides whether to allow the project.

For much of the time since the law was adopted in 2007, the recession has inhibited development. The Informed Growth Act has been used only once, for a Walmart expansion project in Skowhegan. Walmart won approval.

No big-box store has ever been rejected because of the law.

However, confusion and uncertainty surrounding the Informed Growth Act have discouraged some development projects, said Kate Dufour of the Maine Municipal Association.

Several Republicans on the committee appeared eager to repeal the law, and even Democrats who support it were looking for ways to amend it.

Rather than repealing the Informed Growth Act, several committee members suggested making the law effective only for communities that vote to adopt it as a local ordinance.

The committee took no vote on the bill Wednesday. It will take up the issue again at a work session next Wednesday.

MaineToday Media State House Writer Tom Bell can be contacted at 699-6261 or at: tbell@mainetoday.com

 

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