Augusta City Council members on Thursday kept in place a moratorium on new homeless shelter proposals while land-use regulations and a new shelter licensing ordinance are considered.

The licensing ordinance would require new homeless shelters in Augusta to obtain the City Council’s approval on security and operational integrity, and it appeared to have support from most councilors. Thursday’s meeting marked the first reading of the new rules; they could be approved in a second reading as early as April 16.

The council originally enacted a 90-day pause in December on new shelters to develop guardrails around shelter operations. It extended that pause last month because work developing the ordinance was not yet complete.

Thursday’s agenda originally included a measure to end that temporary ban and allow operators to propose new shelters. And although a subcommittee developing the ordinance had completed its work, Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Judkins asked to keep the pause in place while the Augusta Planning Board reviews amendments to shelter land-use regulations, including on the zones where shelters can be proposed.

His motion passed unanimously.

Judkins championed the initial 90-day pause after the United Community Living Center proposed a low-barrier shelter on Chestnut Street, in his ward.

Without specific guardrails, he argued, shelters would pose “a threat to the health, safety, and property” of Augusta residents. The planning board dead-ended the United Community Living Center shelter proposal in December.

Judkins said the moratorium was unfortunately timed. He said he realized too late that shelters needed clear security and safety requirements and that the council “should have recognized” the need for these guardrails “a long time ago.”

After receiving input from the planning board on the new land-use regulations, city officials will then send out a request for shelter proposals, seeking a partner to run a low-barrier, year-round shelter. Opioid settlement funds and city-owned land could be offered to a developer.

The extension of the moratorium last month sent Augusta beyond the one-year anniversary of the city’s Task Force on Homelessness making recommendations for creating “a community where everyone has a place to call home.”

The task force recommended year-round, low-barrier shelter as a short-term need, “achievable within one year or less.”

The council did make a substantial change to the licensing ordinance Thursday: At-Large Councilor Courtney Gary-Allen proposed eliminating a minimum staffing requirement that would have required shelters to staff one person for every 10 guests during the day and for every 20 guests overnight.

Steven McDermott, a Winthrop resident with experience in Maine affordable housing and shelter funding, said the council should instead consider making the language more performance-based to align with the Maine State Housing Authority’s already-established guidelines.

He said requiring uniformly applied minimum staffing levels could force existing shelters, like the Augusta Emergency Overnight Warming Center, to pay thousands in increased costs.

“I think (a looser) type of approach allows the city the flexibility to acknowledge the different types of shelters that you might see proposed — ranging from a barrack-style shelter, where it’s one big room, which has clean sight lines from one corner to the other corner, front to back, top to bottom, which might need fewer staff, to something like an independent single-room occupancy-style shelter, where there might need to be more staff doing more frequent rounds,” McDermott said.

Gary-Allen’s motion to ask shelters for “adequate staffing” depending on guest needs was approved, 5–3, with Ward 3 Councilor Michael Michaud, At-Large Councilor Annallee Morris-Polley and At-Large Councilor Joshua Lilley voting against.

Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct who voted against the adequate staffing proposal.