NORWAY — The clock is ticking to bring a proposed moratorium to voters that would cap rent increases for residents of Norway’s largest manufactured home community before rates are set to rise April 1.
At a Norway Select Board meeting Thursday night, board members voted to take the first steps to bring a moratorium to voters that would temporarily halt lot rent increases at Norway Commons, a manufactured home community for residents 55 or older.
The motion, introduced by Select Board Vice Chair Sarah Carter-Hill after a two-hour workshop earlier in the evening, calls for sending a slightly amended version of Jay’s recently adopted lot rent moratorium to the town attorney for review and moving forward with the process of getting the issue to voters “as soon as possible, which may include a special town meeting.”
Before a moratorium can go to voters, three steps must happen: The town attorney must review the language, and the town must hold a public hearing and a special town meeting with 30 days’ notice.
But the proposed increases that first brought residents, including Sharon LeBlond of Norway Commons, to protest rising lot rents at a January Select Board meeting still loom. At that meeting, LeBlond said her rent would rise from $407.50 to $439.50 on April 1.
“It is my strong recommendation to hold a special meeting to do this before April 1, when the next rent increase is going to go into effect,” Lorri Nandrea, an organizer with the Maine Labor Climate Council, said at Thursday’s workshop. “If the rent increase is allowed to go into effect, it can lead to confusion.”
Part of the confusion, they said, is that some residents might choose not to pay the increases, especially if they believe they will be reimbursed retroactively, a provision included in the current moratorium language. LeBlond and Nandrea said that could leave residents facing costly late fees.
The second major source of confusion, they said, would come from issuing checks for the retroactive difference between the capped rent and the increase. The moratorium language says Norway’s town manager, or someone acting on the manager’s behalf, would be responsible for ensuring that Sun Communities, which owns Norway Commons, pays residents.
There was considerable discussion at the meeting about whether to hold a special town meeting or wait to take up the issue at Norway’s annual town meeting in June, three months after the increases would take effect.
Interim Town Manager and Police Chief Jeffery Campbell, who spoke at the workshop, said he was concerned that allowing the group of senior citizens to bypass the usual process — gathering petition signatures and adding the issue to the town warrant before holding a special meeting — could set a precedent.
LeBlond said Sun Communities forbids residents from going door to door, and some are afraid to speak up or sign petitions because they fear retribution.
Campbell said he was wary of bucking the usual process.
“It opens the town up to precedent so the next group, whose cause might not be so just, to put something directly on the town warrant,” Campbell said. “It is better to do something right and slower than quickly and not the right way. We should put the moratorium on the town meeting warrant to get a bigger picture.”
LeBlond said waiting until June – and paying the increases until then — was not an option for her or for park residents who were already struggling with rent.
“We can’t afford to pay it for three months,” LeBlond said. “I am thinking of the people I know that are already struggling, and my heart goes out to them. It is hard to be old, on a fixed income and to have no control, to worry about making food and prescriptions.”
Carter-Hill said that if the board was considering bringing the rent moratorium to voters, it should aim to do so before the April 1 deadline to mitigate harm.
“If we’re OK with considering the moratorium, why wouldn’t we want to avoid confusion and not miss the window? If that’s the focus, why wouldn’t we try our best to enact it before April 1?” Carter-Hill asked.
Select Board Chair Russell Newcomb said he did not see how the tight timeline would work, particularly the 30‑day notice required for a special town meeting when the next regularly scheduled board meeting is March 5.
“I don’t see how we can make the 30-day deadline before April 1 with the time that we have,” he said.
Newcomb also noted that there was no guarantee voters would approve the moratorium, which is designed to give the board time to craft a permanent ordinance that would cap lot rent, at a special town meeting. He added that more voters would be able to weigh in on the issue during the June town meeting.
Carter-Hill said there would be consequences in not fast-tracking the process.
“I think about what harm there is in not enacting the moratorium,” she said. “In our specific case, there is a large population with an immediate need. This is a tight time frame, but not impossible.”
