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Bangor staff outlines major land-use changes to comply with new state housing rules, including ADU, density and tiny‑home provisions
Summary
Planning staff presented a first-round package of draft edits to bring Bangors land development code into alignment with state housing rulemaking, including allowing ADUs on 1to3-unit lots, four-unit allowances in some URD zones, tiny-home lot-size options, and new minor site-plan review thresholds for small parking lots.
Planning staff on Feb. 17 presented a detailed first round of proposed amendments to Bangors land development code intended to implement new state housing rulemaking and to clarify local rules for missing-middle and affordable housing.
Planning Officer Anya Collette described a multi-part draft that moves certain affordable housing definitions to the general definitions section, adds provisions from state law allowing increased height and reduced parking for qualifying affordable-housing projects, and tightens verification requirements (for example, showing sewer and water capacity and an executed long-term affordability covenant). "They would have to execute a covenant with the city... it would have to be recorded at the registry of deeds," Collette said, adding that covenants would tie long-term affordability obligations to a specific property.
Collette said the draft follows four state-defined scenarios for unit allowances based on location and utility service: inside the growth boundary with public water and sewer, outside the growth boundary with water and sewer, inside the growth boundary without public sewer (septic rules apply), and outside both growth boundary and public utilities. In the clearest example, "if you meet all the requirements in our growth boundary... you can have 4 units on a 5,000-square-foot lot," Collette said, and that figure may include ADUs.
For URD 2, staff proposed raising the local cap on units to six and permitting the affordable-housing density bonus; in urban service (USD) zones, mixed commercial-residential uses would move from conditional to permitted uses, and the residential minimum lot area for added units would be revised to 5,000 square feet per staff draft.
Collette also raised possible small-lot allowances for tiny homes (draft guidance cited a 400-square-foot maximum tiny-home size), and discussed how tiny homes would be treated relative to ADUs and existing dimensional tables. She suggested limiting tiny-home lot relaxations to specific zones or to the growth boundary.
On procedural changes, staff proposed relying on the state subdivision statute to clarify when planning-board approval is required and creating a "minor site plan revision" (staff review) threshold for parking lots of 5 to 20 spaces. Collette said that change is meant to ensure review of buffering and screening even when a proposal does not trigger a full board hearing. Board members asked whether reducing planning-board review for smaller projects would lower the amount of abutter notification; Collette confirmed minor site-plan review would not require the same abutter notice as a planning-board hearing, and the board discussed tradeoffs between streamlined review and reduced notification.
Collette said this is the first round of changes and that staff will revise language and return subsequent drafts after internal review and committee input.
What happens next: Staff will refine the draft, consult with the business and economic development committee, and bring formal language back to the board for subsequent review before sending ordinance language to City Council.
