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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. - j