NORTHERN YORK COUNTY — Municipalities including Biddeford, Saco and Old Orchard Beach faced a Jan. 1 deadline to comply with state law LD 2003, landmark legislation that clears the way for greater housing production in Maine by mandating changes to local ordinances.
Saco finalized updates to their code in September, and Biddeford City Council signed off on changes during their final meeting of 2023.
Old Orchard Beach has yet to complete the process. Executive Assistant Tim Fleury said the delay is due to procedural and scheduling snafus — though multiple members of Town Council also voiced objections to the state law during the most recent council meeting on Jan. 2.
LD 2003 has three core components. Broadly speaking, it requires municipalities to allow up to four units on lots zoned for single family homes, legalizes accessory dwelling units (or ADUs) statewide, and implements a density bonus — the opportunity to build more — for developers constructing affordable housing in “growth areas.”
The legislation was sponsored by former Speaker of the House Ryan Fecteau, who represented Biddeford in the Maine Legislature between 2014 and 2022. It passed the Legislature and was signed into law two years ago. LD 2003 is “about cutting the red tape that Maine families are facing so that more housing is available to more Maine families,” said Fecteau in 2022.
Addressing supply is crucial for combatting Maine’s housing crisis. A report authored by multiple Maine state agencies that was released in October found that lack of supply is the biggest driver of the housing crisis. The state must construct somewhere between 76,400 to 84,300 new homes by 2030 in order to keep up with expected population growth and account for underproduction, according to the report.
Cities and towns that are governed by councils had to comply with the LD 2003 by Jan. 1 and entities governed by town meetings have until July 1 to implement the change.
Old Orchard Beach on track to comply with LD 2003, but not without dissent
Old Orchard Beach intended to update its ordinances by Dec. 19 2023, but was forced to postpone in early December and then again in late December, Fleury said. The changes will go to a final vote at their next meeting on Jan. 16, he said.
Two members of the public spoke during the brief public hearing held at the council’s Jan. 2 meeting, but it was the councilors themselves who spent almost an hour discussing the draft changes.
Town Councilor Michael Tousignant said that he objected to complying with LD 2003 at all, arguing that the legislation was not a good fit for the town. He took issue with the fact that the law does not require additional parking spots for ADUs beyond what’s required of the single family dwelling unit, which he said could exacerbate street parking congestion.
He also objected on a more philosophical level. Changes to town law should come from the town, not from the state, he said. He said that the law seemed appropriate for municipalities with more people, not towns like Old Orchard Beach.
Fellow Councilor Kenneth Blow said that he agreed when it comes to the concern about parking. But suggested there was no point objecting; ultimately Old Orchard Beach would have to comply with the state directive.
For his part, Councilor Connor Rague said he’s supportive of LD 2003, citing the urgent need for affordable housing. In addition, these changes “give people more freedom to do what they want with their property,” he said in an interview on Jan. 3.
Old Orchard Beach is far from the only municipality that has grumbled about the bill. In nearby Cape Elizabeth, members of the Town Council sparred during an early November workshop about LD 2003, with some raising similar objections to Tousignant.
Then again, municipalities like Portland, Ellsworth and Kennebunk have gone beyond the changes required by the law. In Ellsworth and Kennebunk, for example, the towns took the step of disallowing ADUs to be used as short-term rentals.
Rague said it is his understanding that Old Orchard Beach will do the bare minimum to comply with the law.
Biddeford ended 2023 with multiple housing updates
During a Dec. 19 meeting, the Biddeford City Council signed off on changes to comply with LD 2003 — but also greenlit inclusionary zoning, arguably a more radical change to its existing housing code.
Inclusionary zoning requires new developments in certain zones to support the creation of affordable housing units, either by including affordable units in the development or paying into the city’s Housing Trust Fund. Projects that have eight units or more are subject to the inclusionary zoning policy.
At a City ocuncil meeting in November, Councilor Doris Ortiz, who was the head of the mayor’s affordable housing task force, for the inclusionary zoning policy to consider units attainable for people making 80% of area median income to be “affordable,” instead of 100% of area median income.
The version that ultimately passed included her amendment to peg affordability to 80% of AMI.
The motion passed 7 to 2, with Councilors Marc Lessard and Norman Belanger voting no.
Changes necessary to satisfy LD 2003 were pretty minor in Biddeford, said Councilor Liam LaFountain during an interview in November. He said, for example, that the city has had an ADU ordinance on the books for a number of years, though under LD 2003 they will now be allowed in the city’s coastal zone, where they previously weren’t. The city has also had a density bonus for a number of years.
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