The 4 most interesting housing initiatives Mainers will vote on this year

HousingThis section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
Mainers will vote Nov. 5 on several local referendums aimed at containing the housing crisis.
One initiative out of Old Orchard Beach would stabilize lot rents at mobile home parks in a bid to address a national issue, while others would turn a midcoast school building into apartments and change short-term rental regulations in Maine’s largest city.
We looked at four interesting housing-related initiatives voters around Maine will decide next week.
A citizen initiative in Old Orchard Beach looks to stabilize lot rents in town mobile home parks by capping annual increases at 5 percent. 
The measure is being proposed because earlier this year, the owner of two mobile home parks in town increased rents by 14.5 percent and then notified residents they were selling to a California-based company. Residents tried to thwart that increase by purchasing their own communities under a new Maine law, but were rejected.
“With a new owner coming in, they felt the need to do something to control any future rent increases to try to mitigate higher costs,” Diana Asanza, town manager of Old Orchard Beach, said of the citizen initiative.
Investors have been buying mobile home parks in recent years in Maine and nationally, and rent increases often follow. The new owner of the Old Orchard Beach parks sent a letter to residents in August telling them their initiative is “potentially unworkable” and asked to delay the vote on the proposed ordinance.
“We work very hard in our properties to keep rent increases very reasonable,” the new owner wrote.
Camden voters will be asked whether to pass a zoning amendment that would allow a historic school-owned building rented now by a Montessori school to be converted into up to 10 apartments for teachers finding it difficult to live in the pricey community.
“A lot of staff want to come to work for Camden because it is such a good school district, but it’s acutely challenging in the midcoast. Housing is a struggle,” Jeremy Martin, Camden’s planning and development director, said. “They hire upwards of 20 people a year. Lots of those don’t live here locally and are wanting to move here.”
The three-story building close to downtown Camden is currently zoned so that ground-level residential use is not allowed. The school district is proposing the change, with the hope that by fall 2027 the property can become eight to 10 multifamily units.
“I’m sure it’s going to overpass overwhelmingly,” Martin said, adding that no one spoke in opposition to the project throughout multiple planning meetings this year.
Portland voters will decide whether to tighten registration requirements for short-term rentals in Maine’s largest city. It’s a City Council initiative asking residents to approve changes the council made to the city’s short-term rental ordinance earlier this year.
Councilors have heard anecdotes that single-family homes around Portland are being rented illegally as owner-occupied short term rentals, which are not capped under city code. If voters pass this ballot initiative, it would enact a higher bar to prove occupancy using the state’s Homestead Exemption as a registration requirement.
There’s been no organized opposition against the proposed change, and short-term rental hosts have expressed support for the measure.
“Illegal things undercut their business,” City Councilor Kate Sykes said.
Another citizen initiative on the ballot this year is out of York. Residents concerned about the presence of whiskey fungus at a local distillery have moved to enact a “fairly aggressive” buffer zone between town distilleries and housing, planning director Dylan Smith said.
“They have current concerns based on how the [distillery] owner is currently aging spirits and whiskey fungus and how it’s impacting their properties and perhaps their health,” Smith said. “They put together a petition regarding that particular use, setting some pretty tough standards for future distilleries and expansions.”
The proposal would prohibit any business manufacturing or aging distilled spirits from being located on a lot no less than 25 acres. Distilleries would have to be at least 200 feet from lot lines and at least 400 feet from residential structures. The select board opposed the measure in a 3-2 advisory vote.
Correction: An earlier version of the report misstated that the current owners of the Old Orchard Beach mobile home parks raised lot rents by 14.5 percent. It was the previous owners who raised the rents before selling to the current owners.