Alna Planning Board Chair Jim Amaral strongly encourages residents to turn out at the fire station at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8 for a public workshop on ordinance changes he expects voters will consider at the annual town meeting in March. “They are significant changes,” involving accessory apartments and short-term rentals, “and the members of the planning board – we don’t want to dictate to people what to do. We really are hoping for as much feedback as possible so when we come up with a final draft, it reflects the concerns and the best ideas that folks in town have come up with.”

In a phone interview Dec. 1, Amaral said the board has been taking a comprehensive look at the building code to make sure the ordinance complies with a new state law, LD 2003, requiring towns to allow accessory apartments – up to two on a lot, according to the workshop notice in a town email Nov. 30. “The (new state) law is really addressing a problem that’s occurring all over the state – lack of available housing,” Amaral told Wiscasset Newspaper. “I’ve noticed this as an employer, having people want to move to Maine to work for (his business) Borealis Breads, but they can’t find housing. And I’ve spoken to other small business owners who are in the same boat.

“So I think these changes to the building code ordinance, if they’re done in a thoughtful way, might be a small part of the solution to the problem.” He said the ordinance already allows an accessory apartment for a family member, and the owner cannot charge them rent, Amaral said. “It’s very restrictive, and it doesn’t meet the standards set out in the new state law.”

According to Wiscasset Newspaper files, under the current code, amended in March 2001, “The occupants of the accessory and principal units must be members of the same extended family, or a certified medical caregiver of a family member. Extended family shall mean: father, mother, son daughter, sister, brother, (or in-law relationships of any of the preceding), grandparent, aunt, or uncle.”

Asked if he is satisfied with the possible changes as drafted, he said he is, due to the approach he said the board has taken and will continue to take to the work. “It’s a collaborative process ... I think we’ve taken a very slow, considered pace to it, and we’re giving the citizens in town many, many opportunities to provide feedback,” in board meetings and now the Dec. 8 workshop; based on feedback from the workshop, the board will do another draft to present at a public hearing in January. “And then, again, based on feedback, we’ll come up with the final language for the proposed changes, and then they will be presented in the warrant at the March town meeting, and folks will get to vote on it.”

The latest draft, at Alna.maine.gov, defines a family as “one or more persons occupying a dwelling unit and living as a single housekeeping unit.” The draft calls for a tiny home to be considered an accessory unit if on a lot that already has a dwelling; and states a property with a short-term rental is owner-occupied if the owner resides on the property at least six months and a day per year. Short-term rentals would need business permits every year. View the full draft at alna.maine.gov

Alna began looking at apartment rules in spring and summer 2021 after some voter challenges that March. Selectmen found no voter fraud occurred.