JAY — The Select Board is moving forward with drafting a mobile home park rent moratorium to be voted on at the April town meeting.

If approved, it would prohibit any rent increases imposed after Dec. 8 and pause any further increases.

On Monday, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said Maine Municipal Association initially advised the town to seek an attorney for drafting the ordinance.

“We got a legal opinion that the town has the ability to do a moratorium and/or an ordinance,” LaFreniere said. “It does have to go to the voters because we are a town meeting form of government. We can do both of those.”

In November, the issue came to a head as residents from Pine Haven, Lambert Street and Hidden Circle mobile home parks gathered at the Local 14 Solidarity Center to describe repeated rent increases and long-standing maintenance problems they say are putting seniors and low-income families at risk of displacement. 

Cheyenne Gallivan, communications and member engagement director for the Maine Labor Climate Council, had said increases of $25-$50 have occurred “often without warning,” creating financial strain for residents living on fixed incomes.

Several attendees at Monday’s meeting expressed concern about potential rent increases between now and the April town meeting. One resident asked whether the board could set up a special meeting sooner because “they don’t want any rent increases before April.”

LaFreniere said the Select Board cannot institute a temporary moratorium on its own, but the town could draft one now and make it effective retroactively if voters later approve it.

“If the board decides to go forward with a moratorium, you could make it retroactive,” she said. “You could decide tonight that you’re going to move forward on a moratorium, work with the attorney to have one drafted, and put it on the April town meeting with the effective date as of tonight.”

Asked whether the Select Board could authorize a 60-day temporary moratorium without a vote, LaFreniere said no.

“The authority has to come from the voters,” she said. “There is no option for just a temporary moratorium that is in place until the voters vote. But they can retroactively put it in place as of today.”

A resident asked whether voters could make the motion instead of the board.

LaFreniere said the Select Board may initiate the process, or residents could petition to place it on the warrant if the board declined.

“If the board chooses not to take action, then it would be on the residents to do a petition to put that on the April town meeting vote,” she said.

One issue that has to be clarified, LaFreniere said, is if a new park owner increased rents before April.

“If the moratorium is proposed to be adopted … in April and the language is developed that says it’s effective as of now, I’m not clear on whether they can raise the rent and then if the moratorium is passed, they would have to refund the rent or if they could just not do it, period,” LaFreniere said. “That’s one of the things we would have to clarify.”

The board discussed cost differences between a full stabilization ordinance and a narrower moratorium ordinance.

LaFreniere said stabilization ordinances are more extensive and more expensive to develop. MMA provides guidance because several communities have passed stabilization ordinances, she said. Old Orchard Beach is the only municipality in Maine with a moratorium specific to mobile homes.

If a special town meeting were eventually required, LaFreniere said state law requires at least seven days public notice, copies of which landlords will receive.

A motion was made to draft a moratorium ordinance for the April town meeting with the effective date retroactive to Dec. 8. The motion was seconded and passed.