Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §4326, sub-§3, ¶G, as amended by PL 1991, c. 722, §7 and affected by §11, is further amended to read:

G. Ensure that its land use policies and ordinances encourage the siting and construction of affordable housing within the community and comply with the requirements of section 4358 pertaining to individual mobile home and mobile home park siting and design requirements. The municipality shall seek to achieve a level of 10% of new residential development, based on a 5-year historical average of residential development in the municipality, meeting the definition of affordable housing. Municipalities are encouraged to seek creative approaches to assist in the development of affordable housing, including, but not limited to, cluster zoning, reducing minimum lot and frontage sizes, increasing densities and use of municipally owned land.__A municipality is exempt from this paragraph if the percentage of affordable housing for all housing in that municipality exceeds the average of the percentage of affordable housing for all municipalities in the State;

SUMMARY

This bill exempts a municipality from setting aside 10% of new residential development for affordable housing if the percentage of housing that is affordable in that municipality exceeds the average percentage of affordable housing for municipalities in the State.