Bill cutting red tape for mill redevelopment gets Senate OK
Courtesy / The Szanton Company
The Lofts at Saco Falls is to the left of the driveway, The Mill at Saco Falls is to the right.
The Maine Senate on Tuesday gave unanimous initial passage to a bill by Sen. Nate Libby, D-Lewiston, that would cut red tape on the redevelopment of former mill sites across the state to transform the unused buildings into new housing and commercial property.
“Revitalizing historic mill buildings has done wonders for Lewiston, and we’re not alone: Biddeford and Waterville are also seeing new life in their downtowns by rehabbing and redeveloping former mills,” Libby said in a news release. “The Senate’s vote today is an important step toward similar rebirth for these historic and important buildings all over the state.”
Currently, municipalities that have a site plan review process must also go through the state subdivision review process in order to divide one building or property into multiple units — an additional bureaucratic process that increases the cost of redevelopment and the time it takes to breathe new life into old mills.
The bill — LD 805, “An Act To Streamline the Municipal Review Process When Dividing a Structure into Three or More Dwelling Units and To Amend the Process for Recording Subdivision Variances” — would allow municipalities that have their own site plan review process to review the project without also having to also go through state subdivision review. Additionally, because the timing of permits and applications necessary for subdivision work, developers often have to apply multiple times for waivers from certain sections multiple times. This bill would streamline that process so the waivers only need to be applied for once.
The Maine Association of Realtors, the Associated General Contractors of Maine, GrowSmart Maine, and the Maine Real Estate and Development Association all have spoken in support of LD 805.
LD 805 now heads to the Maine House of Representatives.
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