Home Rule vs An Act To Increase Housing Opportunities in Maine
If Mainers do not actively assert our Home Rule Authority over rhetoric that claims we must "align with state law" we will lose local control over just about everything.
This open land and golf course in Bath Maine is under threat of being turned into cluster housing with a lot of help from the State.
Update. I reported in my last post that LD 2003-HP 1489 was not found using Maine Bill search. Yesterday I was able to bring LD 2003-HP 1489 up by imputting LD 2003 for work session 130th. However, the testimony link still leads back to the main search form and does not give access to testimonials.
Note added after writing the current post- It was pointed out to me that there is another testimony link on the page in the right-hand panel that says “public testimonies” and one can access the testimonies there.
However, I also discovered there are two web addresses for Maine Bill Search. I googled Maine Bill search and selected the first, not taking in that there are two different addresses.
State of Maine Legislature Bill Status Search
Bill Tracking and Text Search - Maine Legislature
The testimonials are accessible through the second link, in the right-hand panel but are not accessible through the top link or in the menu in the left side in either web address.
Continuing post as originally written:
How to hack into the testimonies.
I previously linked to some of those testimonials in this post, Clicking on a testimony can be used to access other testimonies by changing the ID number in the address bar. There were a large number of testimonies. I don’t know where that series begins and ends, but that can be discovered, more or less. Testimonies to other bills also show up in the series. The lowest ID number I have to date is id=10008051 and the highest is id=10008250
Some testimonies voice the opinion that LD 2003 is an infringement of Home Rule, as I did in my testimony opposing the repealed and replaced Boothbay school charter but my point, specifically objecting to the words “aligned with state law”, was not raised during the work session for the charter. The Legislature takes an oath to uphold the Maine Constitution and yet when one brings up a constitutional question in a testimony, it is ignored, leading to the conclusion that public testimonies are all for the show, and in this case, a show that is now being hidden from public access. People should keep on testifying but if we want to be effective we need to challenge the unconstitutional laws in the courts.
The National League of Cities has published Principles of Home Rule for the 21st Century, which I just discovered five minutes ago, so I have not read it yet.
Testimonials objecting to LD 2003 because it is an infringement on Home Rule
D. Brusini, a member of the Town of Bridgton, Maine, Planning Board
The provisions of the Affordable Housing Commission Bill erodes the local decision-making authority with a one-size-fits-all approach, and the speed with which these recommendations would be implemented, without study of the impacts on municipal infrastructure, resident relations, or natural resources may be destructive to the well being of small Towns like Bridgton and others in the Lakes Region
Jessica Sullivan Cape Elizabeth
This bill proposes statewide one-size-fits-all draconian and frankly communistic mandates that would completely remove home rule from local communities and local taxpayers.
Elizabeth Goodspeed Cape Elizabeth
I strongly oppose LD2003. This bill takes away any power citizens and their local governments have to determine the fate of their town.
Annique Milite, resident of Freeport
Lawmakers ought to address root causes such as inflation, taxation, rising energy costs, etc, that make home ownership ever out of reach, rather than eliminating single-home residency altogether (as desired by certain worldwide interests).
This bill if ever passed would totally undermine every fundamental of home rule! Those who pay tax dollars within their respected towns/cities have every right to determine how they would like to be governed. This bill would negate any and all work that volunteer citizens have given in the past and currently to reflect the desires of their fellow citizens desires as to how they would like to have their municipalities governed. Augusta and god knows Washington can not know the pulse of a community more than the residents! Please do not let this bill see the light of day!!
The testimony I use as the gateway is that of Kate Wilbur, chair of Build Maine.
As an outcome of LD 2023-HP1489, the state has been distributing grants to non-profit organizations that partner with other non-profit organizations to work on a ten-year plan for the state.
Build Maine and GrowSmart Maine have joined forces to shape state-level policy as part of an open and dynamic process involving over a hundred people from across the State. source
The state distributes grants to non-profits to work on a ten-year state plan. At the same time, the Maine Legislative website is cutting off access to the testimony of some of the same organizations that are receiving the grants.
Kate Wilbur’s testimony recommended making the priority zones optional instead of mandated but the zones are mandated and the financing is designed to target large-scale developers. This is the state’s plan for a state-wide “community character” that more than ever before divides Maine into a rigid class structure. The concentrated housing zones are often referred to as “workforce housing”, a kinder gentler way of saying “serf force housing” for people who rent units on land owned and controlled by an overlord corporation, and more frequently than ever before, the landlords of the tenants are also the employers of the tenants.
Ms. Wilbur recommended defining the priority zones. This thought is compatible with my interpretation of “priority zone” as consistent with “intentional community”.
Descriptions of intentional communities usually identify a group of people with mutual interests and concerns who come together and decide to form a community but in this case, the state and private developers are deciding what the community will be and the assumption is that people will move to these communities because the housing situation is so dire, but an affordable housing development located in a county’s wealthiest community, prices out those in surrounding areas looking for housing that they can afford.
An Intentional Community is a planned/organized community in which persons with similar goals or interests reside. Source: Angelica Village
Kate Wilbur’s testimony goes on to say:
The recommendations for 1 to 4 units per lot, 2.5x density for affordable housing, and prohibitions of growth caps will result in increased housing. But we believe these must tie back to an opt-in and incentivized Priority Development Area framework, rather than mandates that apply everywhere. This will help ensure that this bill doesn’t inadvertently work counter to local planning efforts and accelerate and intensify residential sprawl on farmland and other open spaces. Not addressing this issue will set us back as a state on many of our climate, fiscal, economic, and quality of life goals. (emphasis by author) Testimony Against LD 2003 by the Maine Municipal Association
An example of residential sprawl vs other open land is currently being fought out in Bath, Maine. The video and story that follows are contributed by Peter Blachly
The current owners of the Bath Golf Course recently announced their intention of turning at least half of the course – and potentially all of it – into high-end cluster housing. This would be a devastating loss to the people of Bath and the surrounding communities and would have detrimental impacts on traffic, noise, water and air quality, tourism, and public health.
The Bath Golf Course is much more than an ordinary golf course. Situated far from highway noise and flight paths it offers vistas and open land (not to be confused with “open space”) that is surrounded by forest and farmland. Since its founding in 1932, it has been an integral and indivisible part of the larger community’s social and economic fabric. A much-loved place for winter sports (including sledding, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing) in warm weather it is a place for hiking walking dogs and of course playing golf. It is also an important gathering place for weddings celebrations of life meetings and non-profit fundraising events of all kinds and as the beloved venue of the annual Morse High School alumni reunions. The abundance of out-of-state license plates during warm months attests to the course’s vital economic importance to the City of Bath and surrounding communities.
A group of local residents has taken things into their own hands to prevent the destruction of the course. On election day November 7, they collected over 750 signatures on a petition asking the Bath City Council to restrict the zoning to prevent it from being destroyed. They have also asked the Council to enact an emergency moratorium until the measure goes before the voters in the June election. They have also held several public meetings that have resulted in the formation of a new non-profit The Links at Merrymeeting Bay (TLAMB) whose mission is to purchase and manage the course for current and future generations.
Under non-profit ownership by “The Links at Merrymeeting Bay Inc.” (a member-based Maine non-profit) many community benefits will be incurred including especially permanent conservation of the land – preventing future development of cluster housing or other uses that would damage the land and degrade the environment. As a non-profit the golf course would broaden its services to the surrounding community by partnering with other organizations such as Bath Parks and Recreation to create additional programs and activities for people of all ages.
If you would like to be part of the solution you are invited to join the non-profit. Membership dues is only $20 and gives you a part in the decision-making including being able to run for election to the board. You can join or just learn more at the organization’s new website: www.tlambgolf.com/
Peter Macdonald Blachly TLAMB Secretary