LINCOLNVILLE – Creating a Land Use Committee is on the Select Board’s June 10 agenda for consideration. The meeting takes place at 6 p.m. at the Lincolnville Town Office.

The Town Charter allows creation of this committee, with the purpose to “write, rewrite and/or amend land use ordinances in collaboration with the Planning Board,” according to a memo prepared for the meeting. The committee would be made up of five members with three-year-terms and two alternates appointed annually.

Another recent development related to land use was the June 13 voter approval of amendments to the town’s Land Use Ordinance for the purpose of increasing housing opportunities.

The amendments make possible the building of an accessory dwelling exempt from minimum lot standards, except in the Shoreland Zone, on lots with one single-family dwelling.  Also allowed is the building of two additional dwellings, either attached to or separate from the existing dwelling, subject to minimum lot size requirements, and the development of vacant lots with two dwellings in a single structure or two separate dwellings. Any new housing is subject to town-wide land use standards.

The intent of these new land use changes is for Lincolnville’s ordinances to be consistent with a state law designed to remove unnecessary regulatory barriers to housing production in Maine, while preserving local ability to create land use plans and protect sensitive environmental resources, according to according to Town Administrator David Kinney.

Lincolnville’s new land use amendments also take a step towards defining rules that would allow denser housing, such as four-unit subdivisions and affordable housing developments, in locations described as ‘designated growth areas’ in the Comprehensive Plan. Currently, these growth areas do not exist and can only be established by voters at a Town Meeting, according to the Comprehensive Plan.

The full agenda and meeting packet can be viewed on the town’s website at www.town.lincolnville.me.us