Summary of Editorial & Legal Analysis Changes

EDITORIAL CHANGES PER THE CODIFICATION PROCESS

Summary

The Town is in the process of creating a digitized version of the Land Use Ordinance. General Code Corporation is a national consulting firm that specializes in ordinance codification, and they currently serve more than thirty Maine communities. Durham’s Land Use Ordinance will be reformatted to follow their framework which will standardize the Ordinance and make it simpler to do and track updates. The Ordinance will also be more accessible to citizens and will include search and cross-referencing tools. The consultants did a complete and thorough review of the Ordinance and identified 139 places where there are typographical and grammatical errors and areas where the regulations are not consistent with State law or national code references. Town staff members reviewed and provided responses to give confirmation or direction for those technical changes. All proposed technical changes are posted on the website for public review.

Current Ordinance vs. Proposed Digitized Version of the Land Use Ordinance
           Aspect                        Current                       Proposed
 Land Use Ordinance            Microsoft Word and PDF       Searchable, digitized version
 Document.                     documents are posted         can be downloaded and
                               manually.                    printed as Word or PDF.
 Accuracy                      Numerous typographical       Extensive corrections
                               and grammar errors.          included in updated version.
 Consistency                   Out of line with multiple    In line with all State
                               State requirements for       requirements & updated for
                               housing and floodplain       citations.
                               management. Incorrect
                               citations of statutes &
                               reference sources.
 Minor Policies                Multiple areas               All minor policy issues will be
                               necessitated by legal        treated separately from the
                               reviews & opportunity to     technical codification of the
                               address recurring issues.    Ordinance.
 Administrative Changes        Opportunity to streamline    All administrative changes
                               processes & reduce costs     will be treated separately
                               while improving              from the technical
                               efficiency.                  codification of the Ordinance.

Why the Change?

Like the Town’s tax maps that were digitized and put on the Town website a few years ago, the Land Use Ordinance will be modernized to meet citizen expectations for electronic access and utilization. Codification will also correct numerous typographical and grammar errors and make the regulations consistent with State law. Finally, the Planning Board and staff have identified multiple minor policies and administrative changes that will bring needed improvements in Durham’s land use regulations. Those policy and administrative changes will be treated in a separate warrant article from the codification proposal.

We want to hear from you! Do you support the proposed codification of the Land Use Ordinance? Do you think the Town should update its policies and procedures to simplify the regulations and address issues that have come up in regulatory reviews? Please share your thoughts with the Planning Board during the public participation process. You can submit written comments to the Town Planner for circulation to the Board by emailing townplanner@durhammaine.gov.