Portland, Maine to Revise Zoning Code

Portland, Maine will make the first major update to its zoning and building codes in half a century with the ReCode initiative.

According to an article by Sean Murphy for Spectrum Local News, officials say the code is “bloated, needlessly complicated, and not in line with the city’s 21st-century development plans.”

The revised code will allow new housing types, including multifamily housing, promote multimodal transportation, and reduce parking requirements. “In a nutshell, the changes allow different types of housing, including multifamily housing, to be built in areas where it wasn’t allowed before. That includes neighborhoods where the only thing developers could build before was single-family homes.”