SOUTH PORTLAND — The City Council decided Tuesday that an emergency rent cap and eviction moratorium will stay in place for an additional six months, while accessory dwelling units and development impact fees also won approval.

Extending the eviction moratorium and 10% annual cap on rent increases through May 26 will allow the council to continue reviewing a permanent rent stabilization proposal as a possible response to the housing crisis.

The rent cap and eviction moratorium would have expired Nov. 28.

The council imposed the emergency measure in June, after Redbank Village Apartments, a 500-unit complex off Westbrook Street, started raising rents as much as 35 percent last spring. Councilors were concerned that the increases would leave many tenants unhoused and prompt similar actions by other landlords.

Approved 6-0, the extended cap applies to landlords with more than 10 rental units and requires them to forgive any potential rent increases over 10% annually. The council also increased the advance notice landlords must give tenants before raising rents from 75 to 90 days, and the time tenants have to respond from 30 to 45 days.

The cap doesn’t apply tenants at will, nonprofit residential elder care facilities and retirement communities, school dormitories, homeowners who rent out part of their property, and short-term rentals.

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The council decided in September to postpone further deliberation of a rent stabilization proposal to January. It would allow landlords to increase rents once each year at a rate up to 7 percent, plus inflation.

Also on Tuesday, the council also gave unanimous final approval to ordinance changes that will allow accessory dwelling units, commonly known as in-law apartments or granny suites, in all single-family residential zones. The changes take effect in 20 days.

Built in attics, basements or backyards, the apartments also will be allowed on lots where buildings already have up to three dwelling units, and not solely as accessory units to single-family detached residences.

Homeowners will no longer be required to seek a “special exception” from the planning board in order to build an ADU according to strict guidelines. Properties must be owner-occupied. The ordinance prohibits ADUs from being built and operated as short-term rentals.

In the works for over a year, South Portland’s zoning changes align with state legislation passed last spring that will deregulate ADUs across Maine in July 2023.

Under the changes, ADUs in the city can be as large as 800 square feet on lots up to a quarter acre, or as large as 1,200 square feet on bigger lots. No ADU can have less than 190 square feet of living area or exceed 90 percent of the primary dwelling’s living area.

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Detached ADUs will be allowed if they don’t exceed 800 square feet and meet noise, privacy, and other building and design standards to ensure they are safe and compatible with their surroundings.

The changes also eliminate a two-space parking requirement for each ADU and allow ADU applications to be processed administratively by code enforcement staff without a public hearing before the planning board.

The council also approved a first reading of an ordinance that would allow the city to impose impact fees on new developments.

The fees are allowed under state law and imposed by other municipalities. They help pay for public infrastructure improvements required by new development such as roads, sidewalks and traffic control devices; wastewater, water and solid waste systems; public safety facilities and equipment; and parks, open space and school facilities.

City Manager Scott Morelli said fees would be aligned with the goals of the city’s comprehensive plan and funded through its capital improvement plan.

“Impact fees can be an effective tool for ensuring adequate infrastructure to accommodate growth where and when it is anticipated,” Morelli said in a memo to councilors.

The council will take a final vote at a second reading in December.

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