SACO — Saco City Council has signed off on changes to the city’s housing ordinances to comply with LD 2003, a 2022 law that aims to remove unnecessary regulatory barriers to housing production in Maine. The City Council approved the city housing ordinance revisions at their Sept. 25 meeting, and the changes went into effect on Oct. 25. Saco faced a Jan. 1 deadline to implement the changes.
“The goal of the new law is to alleviate the housing affordability issues in Maine by increase housing opportunities,” according to a Southern Maine Planning & Development Commission webpage on the issue.
LD 2003 takes a multi-pronged approach to support increased housing supply, mandating changes to provisions around dwelling units in areas zoned for single-family homes, accessory dwelling units, and affordable housing. An accessory dwelling unit (ADU) is a smaller, independent dwelling unit that is on the same lot as a stand-alone single family home.
Former Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau of Biddeford, the sponsor of LD 2003 explained that the bill is “about cutting red tape. It’s very simple. It’s about cutting the red tape that Maine families are facing so that more housing is available to more Maine families.”
“While Maine has been building about 250 units on average of affordable housing, we have to build 1,000 units per year to keep up with demand,” he said in a video released by Mainers for Working Families last year.
After a year of work by city planning staff, the Planning Board and City Council, the changes made to the city’s housing ordinances to comply with LD 2003 include the following:
- Saco has reduced parking requirements for ADUs. The city can’t require additional parking for an ADU on top of the parking spaces required for the single-family home on the same lot as the ADU, according to state released guidance on LD 2003. Saco also increased the maximum ADU size to 1,000 square feet of total floor area.
- Saco has added a new use, “Dwelling Units Permitted by right per State Statute (30-A §4364-A),” which will provide for more housing to be constructed where Saco currently allows single-family homes. “Generally, one or two more dwelling units (usually 1 attached and 1 detached) would be allowed where Saco already allows single-family homes,” noted a fact sheet released by the city over the summer. The minimum lot area per dwelling unit as outlined by the city zoning ordinance is not changing, which would place limits on how many dwellings can be constructed.
- Saco has complied with LD 2003’s requirements that certain affordable housing development projects are allowed to build more densely if they meet certain requirements. The aim of the revision is to increase the amount of available affordable housing. Saco will allow these affordable development projects in seven zones, according to an August presentation from the city planning department. “Provided all requirements are met, including rent-restricting or deed-restricting more than half of the proposed units for a 30-year period, a development can apply 2.5 times the base density of the existing zone, subject to all applicable planning and permitting requirements,” said City Planner Emily Cole-Prescott.
The city worked throughout 2023 to comply with the new law. In February and June, City Council hosted housing workshop sessions where City Planner Emily Cole-Prescott presented on LD 2003 and changes that Saco would need to implement to comply with the law. The city also held two public hearings on the revisions, in August and September, where Saco residents had a chance to weigh in on the changes.
City Council’s vote on these revisions comes as state agencies have released more information about Maine’s housing crisis. According to a report released last week, the state needs over 80,000 additional homes by 2030 in order to remedy underproduction and account for expected population growth. The study also found that buying a house in Maine is unaffordable for a majority of households, who must make more than $100,000 a year to afford the median home price.
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