In wealthy Cape Elizabeth, officials have been working on how to get into compliance with Maine's landmark housing law since last June.
The new law requires communities to allow accessory-dwelling units on single-family lots and to increase density limits. Those changes have to occur by July 1.
The town has had eight meetings that touched on the new requirements, but as of this week was still finalizing proposed ordinance changes. At a recent meeting, councilor Caitlin Jordan noted that the deadline is quickly approaching.
"If we put it on pause and just wait and then wait and wait and then the deadline comes then we aren't going to be able to move slow," she said.
While LD 2003 was praised for making bold strides in the efforts to grow Maine's housing stock, it faced strong resistance from the Maine Municipal Association and many of its members. But even some supporters of the measure say the impending deadline didn't give them enough time to comply.
Katie Haley is the town manager for Fryeburg, which began looking at the issue a few months ago, and hired a planning commission to help guide it through the process. But she said planners still found it difficult to answer basic questions about the law during a recent public hearing.
"I mean, It makes all of us look pretty foolish and kind of affects our credibility when you're trying to get big budgets passed and then you can't answer a simple question about, you know, how many lots would be allowed on a property," she said.
Rather than press the compliance issue, Haley said the town has decided to wait.
The Legislature dedicated $100,000 to help towns shoulder the costs of changing their ordinances. But the state department of economic development hasn't distributed any of the money, and has not finished the rules governing implementation of the law.
A department spokesperson said those rules should be finalized at the end of the month and that towns can apply for the funding afterwards.
But that may not come fast enough for some communities, especially with town meeting season currently taking place. Deborah Brusini, Bridgton's planning board chair, told lawmakers on a legislative housing committee on Tuesday that the town needed to have its ordinance proposal finished by mid March to get it before voters in time for its annual meeting.
"This time has come and gone so we face a haphazard and legally troublesome situation as concerns housing development," she said.
Brusini was one of several town officials who spoke in favor of a bill that would delay the ordinance deadline for two years. Another measure under consideration would exempt towns with populations under 10,000 from the housing law. That would be most of Maine's towns.
But supporters of the housing law, including Laura Mitchell of the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition, said there is no time to waste.
"People that are homeless people, that are struggling to find housing, need answers now. And so delaying is not answering our crisis," she said.
And Jessica Simpson, who lives in Cape Elizabeth, says her community needs to evolve in order for its residents to have a future. The town attempted to bring its first affordable housing development to the town center last year, but an aggressive campaign from residents caused developers to pull out.
"And I say to my fellow Capers, what are they afraid of?" she said. "An ADU [accessory dwelling unit] is most likely gonna be used by family, families of young people who do let's say just graduated college, middle-aged people who maybe had a divorce and have to move back home or older people who want to live near their children or their grandchildren to age."
There may be little reason to delay the deadline, the Maine Association of Planners argued, as the law has no built-in penalties for not getting into compliance in time.