BAILEYVILLE — Against a backdrop of expansion at the mill in Baileyville, the Town Council passed an ordinance regulating campers and other non-permanent living structures.

“As you may know, the mill here is entering a very big construction phase,” Baileyville Town Manager Rick Bronson said Wednesday. “There’s already a substantial shortage of rental spaces in this town.”

With the lack of rental housing, construction workers who will be in the area for a year or two need housing.

Bronson said someone recently moved into the area in a “very curious thing that they called a travel trailer.” The trailer did not have electricity and was not hooked up to water and sewer.

Officials were left with the question of whether it was fit for human habitation. They thought not, “but we had no ordinance,” Bronson said. “Without an ordinance, we had no mechanism to deal with this sort of thing.”

Code Enforcement Officer Andy Snowman found several other Maine municipalities, including Mount Desert, Frye Island, Lincoln and Bucksport, that have ordinances. Using theirs as a starting point, he drafted an ordinance for Baileyville, Bronson said.

“In municipal government, plagiarism is very popular,” Bronson quipped, adding it’s easier to start with something that has worked in another town.

The ordinance, passed at a meeting April 27, allows campers and other non-permanent structures for permanent human habitation as long as they are hooked up to water, sewer and electricity. They also must contain a fire extinguisher and smoke detector, Bronson said.

These structures also must meet setback requirements.

“It has to now fit within the property boundaries, as if you’re going to build a building,” Bronson said.

The ordinance includes a time limit, so relatives can come for a few weeks during the summer and stay in a camper or other structure without having to meet all the requirements of the ordinance, he said.