An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Comprehensive Planning To Encourage the Development of Affordable Housing
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §4326, sub-§3-A, ¶G, as enacted by PL 2001, c. 578, §15, is amended to read:
G. Ensure that the municipality's or multimunicipal region's land use policies and ordinances encourage the siting and construction of affordable housing within the community and comply with the requirements of section 4358 pertaining to individual mobile home and mobile home park siting and design requirements. The municipality or multimunicipal region shall seek to achieve a level of at least 10% of new residential development, based on a 5-year historical average of residential development in the municipality or multimunicipal region, that meets the definition of affordable housing. The comprehensive plan must include a strategy for achieving affordable housing and workforce housing objectives consistent with low-income populations and workforce populations based upon census data or data provided by the Maine Sate Housing Authority for the municipality or multimunicipal region. A municipality or multimunicipal region is encouraged to seek creative approaches to assist in the development of affordable housing, including, but not limited to, cluster housing, reduced minimum lot and frontage sizes, increased residential densities and use of municipally owned land . If a proposed development contains more than 5 residential units, a municipality or multimunicipal region may impose impact fees for housing that do not exceed 2% of the estimated costs of land acquisition and residential development and if the proceeds from those fees are dedicated to low-income and workforce housing in the municipality or multimunicipal region based upon criteria adopted by the Maine State Housing Authority. A municipality or multimunicipal region may adopt a strategy of granting an incentive for dedication of 25% of proposed housing in developments having no fewer than 12 residential units. These dedicated low-income and workforce units must meet criteria adopted by the Maine State Housing Authority;
SUMMARY
This bill provides additional details of the process for municipalities or multimunicipal regions with regard to development of affordable housing as part of a comprehensive plan.