This bill modifies provisions of law related to housing development and regulation in the following ways.
1. It clarifies requirements related to fire protection in accessory dwelling units.
2. It modifies provisions governing rate of growth ordinances to require that such an ordinance set the number of building or development permits for new residential dwellings at 130% or more of the mean number of total permits issued for new residential dwellings within a municipality during the 5 years immediately prior. It also provides that a municipality may not enforce certain growth ordinances and that a growth ordinance may not require a development permit for affordable housing. It also establishes requirements related to the limit a municipality may place on the number of development permits issued per project or per common scheme of development in a designated growth area.
3. It modifies the provision of law that allows certain affordable housing developments to exceed municipal height restrictions and establishes a new implementation date by which municipalities must apply the requirements with respect to height restrictions as modified by this legislation. It also clarifies that the implementation date established in Public Law
2023, chapter 192 now applies only to density requirements, not height restrictions. The
43 changes to these implementation dates do not apply until July 1, 2026 for municipalities
44 for which ordinances may be enacted by the municipal officers without further action or
45 approval by the voters of the municipality and July 1, 2027 for all other municipalities.
46 The bill replaces cross-references to the implementation date in current law.
4. It provides that municipalities may not require minimum subsurface wastewater disposal standards for housing structures, affordable housing developments and accessory dwelling units other than what is required by the Department of Health and Human Services rules for subsurface wastewater disposal.
5. It modifies provisions of law that place limitations on municipal ordinances that establish minimum lot sizes and density requirements for certain residential property.
6. It clarifies that planning board approval is not needed for accessory dwelling units. It also limits the structures in which a municipality is required to allow an accessory dwelling unit to a single-family dwelling unit or 2-unit or 3-unit residential structure instead of a single-family dwelling unit or multi-unit residential structure as in current law.
7. It provides that a small child care facility or a family child care provider located in an area zoned for residential purposes must be subject to the same zoning requirements as a single-family dwelling unit.
8. It clarifies that the provision of law that requires municipalities to allow residential units within buildings located in an area zoned for commercial use does not apply to areas allowing industrial uses.
9. It creates a grace period from the deadline for updating a municipal ordinance with a definition of "subdivision" that is not in compliance with current law by allowing a municipality to keep its noncompliant definition in force until January 1, 2028 if the municipality files its current noncompliant definition in the applicable county registry of deeds by July 1, 2026.
10. It changes an exception to the law regarding subdivisions for divisions of new or existing structures by making the exception applicable to the division of a new or existing structure into 5 or more dwelling units instead of 3 or more.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text LD 2173, HP 1461: 25.2463, 30-A.4360, 30-A.4364, 30-A.4401, 30-A.4402