Definition of Subdivision

Condominium and other multi-unit projects located within a single structure often pose challenges to municipal planning staff and developers alike, particularly as to whether a certain project should be reviewed under the municipal subdivision ordinance, municipal site plan ordinance, or both. Prior Legislative committee amendments to 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4401 and § 4402 were intended to broaden exemptions to municipal subdivision review by exempting projects reviewed under municipal site plan ordinances. After adoption, however, the Revisors Office included language in the printed bill that review must be in accordance with Title 38, section 488, subsection 19 or Title 38, section § 489-A; i.e., DEP Site Location of Development Act. 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4402, sub-§ 6. Instead of broadening the exemption for certain projects, as the Legislature had intended, the final printed language of the bill limited the exemption to only those projects reviewed under Site Law.

These two statutes where again amended on May 30, 2019, by Legislative Document 550, which will take effect on September 19, 2019, and will be applied retroactively to June 30, 2018. The 2019 amendments delete the reference to DEP Site Law and instead define municipal site plan review as “review under a municipal ordinance that sets forth a process for determining whether a development meets certain specified criteria, which must include criteria regarding stormwater management, sewage disposal, water supply, and vehicular access, and which may include criteria regarding other environmental effects, layout, scale, appearance, and safety” (30-A M.R.S.A. § 4402, sub-§ 6).

The new law also states that the municipality’s reviewing authority shall determine whether a municipal site plan review ordinance meets the requirements previously delineated. It also changes the dates for when definitions of “subdivision” in municipal ordinances must comply with the definition of “subdivision” in state law. The prior statute required municipal ordinances to comply with the state law’s definition of “subdivision” by January 1, 2019. 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4401, sub-§ 4, ¶ H–2. Legislative Document 550 changed this date to January 1, 2021 (S.P. 172, L.D. 550, 129th Leg., 1st Reg. Sess. [Me. 2019]). The prior statute also required municipalities to file their conflicting definitions at the country registry of deeds by June 30, 2018, in order for the definition to remain valid through the grace period ending on January 1, 2019 (30-A M.R.S.A. § 4401, sub-§ 4, ¶ H–2). A municipality now “must file its conflicting definition at the county registry of deeds by June 30, 2020, for the definition to remain valid for the grace period ending January 1, 2021” (S.P. 172, L.D. 550, 129th Leg., 1st Reg. Sess. [Me. 2019]).