Old Orchard Beach amends seasonal housing ordinance

An ordinance revision in Old Orchard Beach may help ease the struggle to find housing for seasonal workers.

Like many popular tourist areas, the Old Orchard Beach community relies on J-1 students - college students who travel from other countries to the United States on J1 Visas to work seasonal jobs. Upwards of 500 J-1 students come to the Old Orchard Beach, Saco and Biddeford area to work every summer, and finding housing for these young people is an ongoing challenge.

Oceanwood Camp and Conference Center asked the Town Council at a February workshop to consider an ordinance that would allow them to house 44 students in 11 cabins, with each cabin being 16 x 16 feet. There would be two kitchen facilities located in separate buildings, and four bathrooms and showers for the 44 students, under their proposal.

The Town Council gave final approval on Tuesday to an ordinance change that would allow the occupancy rate desired by Oceanwood, but did not make changes to allow for a higher person to bathroom ratio.

The high number of adults to bathrooms in the original proposal was “one of the areas of concern the Council raised,” said Town Council Chairman Shawn O’Neill at a March meeting.

The number of bathrooms required for seasonal housing remains unchanged, and there must be one full bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower for every five people.

Under the newly revised ordinance, there are three kinds of temporary seasonal housing, which runs from April 1 – Oct. 31.

Seasonal housing that is in an existing home or multi-unit residential building must have a sleeping area of 70 square feet of floor space per occupant. Sleeping areas are separate from living areas.

Hotels or motels need to have the same occupancy rate for seasonal workers as they do for guests. Sleeping areas may contain cooking areas in hotels and motels.

Cabins have some flexibility. The ordinance states a minimum of 70 square feet of sleeping area per person. However, this may be reduced if there are separate living and cooking spaces available 24 hours a day, with approval from the town code enforcement office. Bathroom areas must also be approved by the town code enforcement office.

Saco Bay News Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.