HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-04-11 88-195 RESOLVE88-195
Introduced by Councilor England, April 11, 1988
CITY OF BANGOR
(TITLE)¢SpjUPb sting the Maine municipal Assoc tioo!sa rtnerahip._,_
for progress' Amen&rents to the Growth Management legislation Currently
before the Maine Legislature.
By the City CoulbaW of the City Of Bandar:
BBBCLVED,
WHEREAS, State and local Cgvermrents throughout the State recognize the
trent and potential problems created by the rate of growth
in the State; ane
WHEREAS, various legislation has been introduced directed toanl improving
the ability of State and local goverment tobettermanage
growth; and
WHERBAS, it is essential that any legislation finally adopted by the
Legislature recognize and be based upon the need for a
cooperative, partnership effort between the State and local
goveraantsl
M.1.V, THEREFORE, BE IT RDJLVEO BY ME CITY COUNCIL OF ME CITY of &YEAR,
MCI:
Tha City Council of the City of Bangor hereby Connally
supports the Maine Municipal Association's 'Partnership for
progress" ammndments to the peMing grawtb management
legislation currently before the State Legislature. Further,
the Chairman of the City Council is hereby authorized and
directed, on behalf of the City Council, to onmwnicate the
Council's position to members of the Legislature and w other
appropriate State officials.
In City Council April 11,1988
Pa98
, /,i
a�rty Clerk
89-1g5 4
Supporting tnheEMain�e Municipal Association's
Pme
artnersMp for Progress" Amendnt to the
Growth Management legislation Currently
"-? A9:30
C/(°<:.
Ty C[ERN"l'
P _ 88-195
Council Actim fro®
Item/Snbject: Resolve, Supporting the Maine Municipal Association's
"Partnership for Progress" Amendments to the Growth
Managenent Ligislation Currently Before the Maine
Legislature
Responsible Wit City Manager
Co ventary: By this tine all aware of the pending growth management
legislation at the State level and the various restrictions which this
legislation would place on local government. In particular, various
versions of this legislation require that miprehensive plans adopted by
local goverrments be approved by the State and goes so far as to require
that all anendnents to a co eunity's zoning ordinance must be approved at
the State level. In effect, should such a neasure pass, every rezoning we
have will have to be approved by the Council and than forwarded to Augusta
for final review and approval. This will add up to an additional three to
six months to every zoning change.
Rather than exhaustively rehash the current proposals and the problems we
sea with than, i would simply refer you to the various attachments which
outline the probles.
The attached resolve would formally support the efforts of the Maine
Municipal Association to amend the proposed legislation to insure that the
growth managenent proposals are workable and that the State and local
governments work coperatively and in a partnership toward addressing this
prablen. I recommend your. approval. n
�n
City Manager
Associated Infcaatim: Resolve and background information attached.
Budget Approval: N/A
legal Approval: ^-
city Sol c
C4 of P"sar, AW
DEC A III OF YL ANN ING AND COMMUNITY DE
John M. Lard
Planning Officer
Dare March 25 1988
Mama lo: Edward A. Barrett, City Manager and The City Council
Sugxe Summary of State Growth Manaeement Legislative Issues
Background
There have been two bills introduced into the Legislature
which address "Growth Management" issues. These bills have
generated a great deal of interest and in volvement from. various
groups and individuals around the StateIt is the purpose of
this paper to try to relate these issues to our specific situa-
tion here in Bangor.
The two bills are:
L.D. 2506 - The McKernan Administration
Bill and L.D. 2317 - the "Commission on Land Conservation and
Economic Development" bill. Also, the Maine Municipal Association
has offered a number of amendments and a program entitled "Partner-
ship in Planning" which has received wide dissemination and is
a source of a great deal of the discussions surroundingthesebills.
(It should be noted that the Maine Municipal Association due to the
distribution of population and the Size of municipalities in the
State of Maine largely represents the views of the many smaller
communities in the State and the regional planning entities which
service these communities.)
The Two Bills -
L.D. 2506 and L.D. 2317 are quite different in their scone,
mandatary requirements, and whole approach to the question of
shaping growth management activities from the State level. First,
the so-called Governor's bill (L.D. 2506) is a much more abbreviated
approach to the whole issue which relies more on the existing State
legislation and on providing latitude to the local municipalities
in dealing with growth management and planning and zoning activities.
L.D. 2506 (the Governor's bill) requires that local municipalities
have comprehensive plans if they are to exercise local subdivision
approval. The bill does not require State review of local compre-
hensive plans but does require certain basic elements be included
88-195 2
in such documents. The Governor's bill also withholds certain
State financial aid from those communities without a local com-
prehensive plan. The bill also provides for the establishment
of a real estate transfer tax the proceeds of which will be used
by local municipalities to fund the public improvements and at
their option creation of land banks. The Governor's bill provides
for State financial assistance to the regional planning commissions
to carry out land use planning and other technical assistance in
this area and directly to the cities and towns of the State. (The
Department of Economic and Community Development will set up a
"Maine Town Planning Program" which will provide the necessary
technical assistance to implement the legislation.)
L.D. 2317 (the Commissions's bill) mandates local comprehensive
plans which must be reviewed by the State before they are acceptable
to meet the statutory requirements. The bill also lays out required
comprehensive plan components and specifies some specific studies
of such things as ground water which must be carried out by the local
municipality. State aid is also withheld from communities that do
not have a comprehensive plan. L.D. 2317 also mandates zoning
ordinances for local municipalities. It also provides as does 2506
for a local real estate transfer tax as a source of monies for
facilities construction, etc. L.D. 2317 provides for financial
assistance to cities and towns with a stipulated preference for the
use of regional planning commissions staffs by the cities and towns
for technical assistance. One of the major differences in this bill
in n elaborate system of state level plan review and a state level
appeals process from local land use plan review which has mandated
180 day action periods, etc. (This is one of the major differences
in the two pieces of legislation which planners, municipalitied, and
others have objected to as being unworkable.
Both bills have established a requirement for affordable housing
at a level of 10 percent of new development to insure that the munici-
palities providehousing for individuals whose income is 80 percent or
less of median family income.
MMA position
The Maine Municipal Association has registered protests on
particularly those elements of L.D. 2317 discussedabove which require
extensive State review and approval of comprehensive plans and
the State appeal process for this approval. The Maine Municipal
Association has entitled their approach to growth management "Partner-
ship in Planning" which implies a relationship between the State and
local municipalities. The Maine Municipal Association agrees that
comprehensive plans should be required and that such plans should be
reviewed at least every five years and updated as necessary. .The
Maine Municipal Association provides for comprehensive plans to be
sent to the Office of Community Development (within the Department of
Economic and Community Development) for distribution to appropriate
State agencies and regional councils. However, the reviews would be
advisory and would be returned to the municipality as input to local
public hearings prior to legislative adoption of comprehensive plans.
The Maine Municipal Association does not propose the kinds of penalties
that the two bills do for those who do not have local comprehensive
88-195 3
plans by the mandated deadlines. The Maine Municipal Association
recommendations do not mandate local zoning. The Maine Municipal
Assation does recommend that local municipalities be given the
authority to adopt by referendum a local real estate transfer tax
to buy and preserve land for open space, etc., or to assist in the
provision of affordable housing. The Maine Municipal Association
recommends that the financial assistance from the State go to
regional planning commissions and also is supportive of a pro-
vision for direct assistance to local municipalities. The Maine
Municipal Association objects strongly to a provision in L.D. 2317
which would basically nullify existing comprehensive plans developed
prior to the passage of this statute.
Concerns for Sensor
There are a wide range of issues raised by the two bills
and the concerns of Maine Municipal Association surrounding the
growth management issues.(There are a number of other related bills
which amend site selection law requirements, subdivision statutes,
shoreland zoning, and other aspects of environmental laws and their
enforcement). However, there are
especific issues which affect
city like Bangor more directly thansome of the general requirements
of the proposed statutes. First, the Mine Municipal Association
objections to an elaborate process of State comprehensive plan review
and State boards of appeals appear to be well founded upon the limita-
tions of State goverment to deal with all the details of local develop-
ment concerns on a day-to-day basis. (The problems of the Department
of Environmental Protection in handling its workload are a striking
example.) From this point of view itappears that Bangor's interests
lie with support of the concerns expressed by Maine Municipal Associa-
tion as to the unworkable proposals of L.D. 2317 in putting the State
in the plan review,approval and appeals business.
There has been some ambiguity in the discussions of where
financial assistance for local planning should be made available.
The final bill should recognize the capability of the larger cities
and towns in the State which have their own planning staff (as well
88
engineering and other staff capabilities) to carry out comprehen-
sive planning either in-house or through the supervision of consultants
for specialized needs.
Both of the L.D.s contain a provision for somehow mandating that
10 percent of new housing developments is "affordable housing"
(defined as housing which can be afforded by those making 80 percent
of the median family income). This requirement is punitive to those
municipalities like Bangor which already have high percentages of
"affordable housing" and have been providing the lion's share of both
family and elderly assisted housing in their regions. A cursory
look at Bangor's housing situation indicates that as of December of
1987 there were approximately 13,420 dwelling units in the City and
in excess of 1,500 of those dwelling units are either public housing,
Section 8 assisted, or rehab assisted housing through the City's
various housing programs. A further look at the value of housing
n the City and the rents charged for rental housing indicates that
upwards of 50 percent of the rental housing units in the City of Bangor
are "affordable housing" (including the assisted housing alluded to
above) and that as many as 25 or 30 percent of the owner occupied
housing may also meet the affordable housing criteria. One a
the major efforts in the City's planning and community development
program in recent years has been the upgrading of the housingstockin the City. To impose a mandatory 10 percent quota on any new
housing is to penalize the efforts of the city in the past. (Also,
as a practical matter the many small communitieswhich are only
adding a few housing units to their housing stock would register
an immeasurable impact by having 10 percent in the "affordable housing"'
category whereas wee talking about a numerically significant number
within the City of Bangor.)
We have copies of the two L.D.'sand a copy of the Maine
Municipal Associations' most recently proposed amendments Lo.L.D.
2317 (The "Commissions Bill" which is the one being dealt with by
the Committee) if anyone wishes to get into the specifics on this
legislation. -
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