An Act to Improve Housing Affordability by Amending the Definition of "Subdivision" Under the Site Location of Development Laws Reference to the Joint Select Committee on Housing suggested and ordered printed.
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 1134
Committee: Housing
Sponsors: BOYLE
Amends: 38 MRSA §482

Legislative Document
No. 1134
H.P. 720
House of Representatives, March 13, 2023
An Act to Improve Housing Affordability by Amending the 
Definition of "Subdivision" Under the Site Location of Development 
Laws
Reference to the Joint Select Committee on Housing suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative BOYLE of Gorham.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  38 MRSA §482, sub-§5, as amended by PL 1997, c. 603, §2, is further 
amended to read:
5.  Subdivision.  A "subdivision" is the division of a parcel of land into 5 or more lots 
to be offered for sale or lease to the general public during any 5-year period, if the aggregate 
land area includes more than 20 acres; except that when all lots are for single-family, 
detached, residential housing, common areas or open space a "subdivision" is the division 
of a parcel of land into 15 20 or more lots to be offered for sale or lease to the general public 
within any 5-year 3-year period, if the aggregate land area includes more than 30 50 acres.  
The aggregate land area includes lots to be offered together with the roads, common areas, 
easement areas and all portions of the parcel of land in which rights or interests, whether 
express or implied, are to be offered.  This definition of "subdivision" is subject to the 
following exceptions:
C.  Lots of 40 or more acres but not more than 500 acres may not be counted as lots 
except where:
(1)  The proposed subdivision is located wholly or partly within the shoreland zone;
C-1.  Lots of more than 500 acres in size may not be counted as lots;
D.  Five years after a subdivider establishes a single-family residence for that 
subdivider's own use on a parcel and actually uses all or part of the parcel for that 
purpose during that period, a lot containing that residence may not be counted as a lot;
E.  Unless intended to circumvent this article, the following transactions may not be 
considered lots offered for sale or lease to the general public:
(1)  Sale or lease of lots to an abutting owner or to a spouse, child, parent, 
grandparent or sibling of the developer if those lots are not further divided or 
transferred to a person not so related to the developer within a 5-year period, except 
as provided in this subsection;
(2)  Personal, nonprofit transactions, such as the transfer of lots by gift, if those lots 
are not further divided or transferred within a 5-year period or the transfer of lots 
by devise or inheritance; or
(3)  Grant of a bona fide security interest in the whole lot or subsequent transfer of 
the whole lot by the original holder of the bona fide security interest or that person's 
successor in interest;
F.  In those subdivisions that would otherwise not require site location approval, unless 
intended to circumvent this article, the following transactions may not, except as 
provided, be considered lots offered for sale or lease to the general public:
(1)  Sale or lease of common lots created with a conservation easement as defined 
in Title 33, section 476, provided that as long as the department is made a party; 
and
H.  The transfer of contiguous land by a permit holder to the owner of a lot within a 
permitted subdivision is exempt from review under this article, provided that as long 
as the land was not owned by the permit holder at the time the department approved 
the subdivision.  Further division of the transferred land must be reviewed under this 
article.
The exception described in paragraph F does not apply, and the subdivision requires site 
location approval, whenever the use of a lot described in paragraph F changes or the lot is 
offered for sale or lease to the general public without the limitations set forth in paragraph 
F.  For the purposes of this subsection only, a parcel of land is defined as all contiguous 
land in the same ownership provided that as long as lands located on opposite sides of a 
public or private road are considered each a separate parcel of land unless that road was 
established by the owner of land on both sides of the road subsequent to January 1, 1970.  
A lot to be offered for sale or lease to the general public is counted, for purposes of 
determining jurisdiction, from the time a municipal subdivision plan showing that lot is 
recorded or the lot is sold or leased, whichever occurs first, until 5 years after that recording, 
sale or lease.
SUMMARY
Under the site location of development laws, the term "subdivision" includes the 
division of a parcel of land into 15 or more lots to be offered for sale or lease to the general 
public within any 5-year period if the aggregate land area includes more than 30 acres and 
when all the lots are for single-family, detached, residential housing, common areas or open 
space.  This bill amends those laws to provide that the term "subdivision" includes the 
division of a parcel of land into 20 or more lots to be offered for sale or lease to the general 
public within any 3-year period if the aggregate land area includes more than 50 acres and 
when all the lots are for single-family, detached, residential housing, common areas or open 
space.