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LD 1481 DOA
BY SARA DONNELLY
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In the end, the bill that Senator Lynn Bromley (D-Cumberland) hoped might curb retroactive citizens’ referenda against property development has met an end. LD 1481, "An Act to Amend the Laws Governing the Enactment Procedures for Ordinances" was declared unconstitutional by state Attorney General Steven Rowe in an opinion released June 10. This opinion effectively nixes its chances of being voted into law. If passed, LD 1481 (see "Your Government," May 6; "No Backsies," May 20; and "LD 1481 may be unconstitutional," June 10) would have prohibited citizens’ referenda from opposing a development which had already received land use approval from the local Planning Board. Supporters of the bill, including Bromley and the Maine Real Estate and Development Association, believed it was necessary to protect affordable housing developments from being vetoed late in the game by locals. But the state Constitution allows the Legislature only to define the method of creating citizens’ referenda, not the content, and so the latest legislative attempt to curb retroactive referenda is not legal. If towns and cities in Maine want to protect developments earlier in the process, they’re going to have to do it at the municipal level, according to the AG’s statement. "We believe that the Law Court would most likely conclude that decisions to limit the scope of direct initiative and referendum at the municipal level are ones that only individual municipalities, and not the Legislature, are empowered to make under Maine’s Constitution," Rowe writes. The Phoenix could not reach Bromley for comment prior to press time.
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