PORTLAND, Maine — The Portland City Council inaugurated three newly elected members Monday and then voted unanimously to reconsider new licensing requirements for emergency shelters previously approved by the former council.
The council also voted 5-4 not to renew the moratorium on new emergency shelters in the Bayside neighborhood that was put in place in June.
The council, now including District 1 representative Anna Trevorrow, District 2 representative Victoria Pelletier, and At-Large Councilor Roberto Rodriguez, voted 9-0 to reconsider licensing requirements for emergency shelters. Those requirements were approved on Nov. 15.
At-Large Councilor Pious Ali said Monday he voted to reconsider the rules because three councilors had requested a workshop, "which we were denied."
Ali said that he voted in favor of the license requirements at the Nov. 15 meeting so that he would be allowed procedurally to request reconsideration as the council did not vote in favor of a workshop for the issue originally. District 4 Councilor Andrew Zarro was the lone dissenting vote at the Nov 15 meeting.
"I'm not against licensing," Zarro said Monday. "I don't think any of us necessarily are against licensing for shelters. I think we just wanted a little bit more time ironing this out."
The proposed licensing requirements for emergency shelters would include a bed density cap of 300 beds within a one-mile radius, a 1,000-foot buffer zone between shelters, a two-tier fee structure for small and large emergency shelters, a day space requirement, and exemptions for pre-existing emergency shelters.
The council also voted 5-4 not to renew a moratorium on new emergency shelters in the Bayside neighborhood.
The moratorium was enacted in June after the previous council found that existing ordinances were "inadequate to protect the Bayside neighborhood from myriad public health & safety issues from the further concentration of emergency shelters in that neighborhood."
They said they saw no need for the moratorium with no new applications for a shelter in that neighborhood.
The Council is expected to hold a workshop on license requirements for emergency shelters on Jan. 5 and then reconsider the item at its meeting on Jan. 19.