Housing Goal:
To promote a pattern of residential growth that sustains all aspects of our community and that is more affordable for year-round residents.
The high demand for housing is currently one of the primary driving forces behind many of the issues facing the town of Mount Desert. An appropriate balance of housing should be sought after to support a healthy economy, and it should be kept affordable in order to avoid displacing community members to outlying areas. Housing should be developed in such a way that improves connections between and among community members, to create vibrant year-round villages. It should not degrade, use up, or obliterate the natural resources that are integral to the success of this community, for example fragmenting or destroying important wildlife habitat, polluting or exhausting water supplies, or negatively impacting either natural or built scenic resources.
Objectives
1. Ensure that new residential development is compatible with the integrity and qualities of Mount Desert.
Strategies:
a. Continue to update our open space development the cluster section (section 5.16) of our subdivision ordinance (or cluster ordinance) to create financial incentives for developers those developing land to protect significant amounts natural/scenic areas whenever development occurs in rural areas.
b. Create a program that determines when and how new growth-area developments with densities higher than the underlying zone allows could be developed contingent on creating preserving an appropriate amount of developable land in more rural areas of Mount Desert. This program depends on a list of priority parks, recreation, conservation, and scenic resources in Mount Desert that should be the target of these development offsets. This program depends on creating a fund into which developers pay their offset fees; the proceeds of this fund are then used to purchase land or development easements.
c. Create voluntary guidelines to encourage developers to follow ecologically sound building practices, such as efficient and cleaner energy consumption and green building materials; and educate the public on the methods and benefits of these types of practices.
d. Create guidelines for development occurring on slopes of 15% or greater.
e. Update the Land Use Ordinance to restrict development occurring atop ridgelines or on slopes greater than 25%.
2. Increase the amount of housing available in Mount Desert that is more economically viable for the year-round working community.
Strategies:
a. Support the efforts of qualified workforce housing entities regional housing organizations (Mount Desert Island Housing Authority or some other quasi-public organization) that are seeking to create more affordable housing for year-round residents as well as lower income households. This support could be in the form of capital and/or operating funding, staff resources, donations of town land/services, or grant/assistance sources.
b. Adjust regulations to encourage infill in designated growth areas.
c. Encourage multi-family housing opportunities in more areas of Mount Desert.
d. Require workforce housing be built as a part of all new subdivisions. This requirement could be met by building and selling a home or paying a fee to an affordable housing fund.
e. Adjust regulations to encourage mixed used in designated areas of Mount Desert.
f. Increase the number of year-round rental units by creating incentives to rent existing properties on a year-round basis, and incentives to create and convert accessory apartments for year-round rentals.
3. Improve the design, quality and types of safe connections (rights-of way, trails, sidewalks, bike paths) between our town's villages, neighborhoods, and subdivisions, in a way that promotes physical activity as a part of daily life.
Strategies:
a. Require that new residential developments in reasonable proximity to each other have bicycle and/or pedestrian connections. The type of connections should depend on where the development exists in the community – trails/rights-of-way in less dense areas and sidewalks/paths in more dense areas.
b. Improve automotive, bicycle, and pedestrian connections throughout the Mount Desert between residential neighborhoods, community facilities, recreation areas, and commercial areas. Special attention should be given to designs that improve pedestrian and bicycle safety.
c. Create a sidewalk master plan that details where these facilities should be located, what level of service they should be maintained to, and an ongoing maintenance schedule to ensure these facilities provide a safe, convenient, and comfortable alternative to automobiles in our town’s villages.
d. Whenever possible, establish bicycle lanes to make alternative transportation easier for residents and guests alike, by widening the shoulders of local roads if necessary, but preferably through creation of separate bicycle trails. Priority should be given to those investments that connect residential neighborhoods to community facilities (water access points, playfields, parks, schools, etc) and our commercial villages.
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