Project unveiling draws neighbors

SCARBOROUGH — Scarborough town officials expected some public pushback on a proposed 17-unit Habitat for Humanity project proposed for construction on Broadturn Road. After all, that’s why they called a public meeting Jan. 24 – to give neighbors a chance to air their objections.

What came as something of a surprise, however, was that the two biggest naysayers were people one might ordinarily presume to be sympathetic to municipal needs for affordable housing.

"Frankly, I'm concerned about the value of my house," said Kennebunkport Town Manager Larry Mead, whose 2,402-square-foot home on ///Saratoga///WHAT?// is assessed at $229,000. Adding the $123,900 assessment for his 1.81-acre lot brings Mead’s total property value, at least as determined by the town, to $353,700.

But that points out exactly why the town has entered into a partnership that Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Stephen Bolton says is “by far, the largest project we’ve ever attempted.”

According to Town Assessor Paul Lesperance, the median price of a home in Scarborough is $300,000. Trish Tremain, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker, who sits as vice chairwoman of the Scarborough Housing Alliance, says that a family making $70,000 per year – picture a local firefighter, cop, or teacher, couple with a spouse working retail – can afford a mortgage of no more than $190,000. That’s based on banking guidelines, which say monthly mortgage payments should not exceed 28 percent of annual household income.

                                           

Even in a depressed market, Tremain says, there’s not a building lot anywhere in town to be had for less than $60,000. That doesn’t leave much left for the house, she says, especially for town employees, most of whom make less than 80 percent of the median area income.

A 2005 study of the local housing market found that the supply of so-called affordable housing – building and land combinations in the $200,000 range – was, in the words of Scarborough Housing Alliance member Sue Foley-Ferguson, “pretty much nil."

So, the following year, Scarborough gave the Maine Turnpike Authority $200,000 for 19.5 acres off Broadturn Road, located between Interstate 95 and Saratoga Lane. The Town Council dedicated the front five acres of the site to a future workforce-housing project. The rest it reserved for open space, because the purchase was funded in part with conservation money.

After a couple of false starts with private developers, the housing alliance earlier this year unveiled a new partnership with Habitat for Humanity. During the next five years, Habitat plans to use its “everybody helps out” model to build five single-family homes and six duplex units, averaging 1,200s quare feet, all built around a circular road in a “compressed village setting.” To keep costs down, the homes will not have garages.

“We feel this is the only way we are going to get any affordable workforce housing here,” said Foley-Ferguson. “There are people who work here who can’t afford to live here.”

“This project lends itself to appearing and feeling more like a rental complex," said Mead's wife, Denise Clavette, a special projects assistant in Brunswick’s department of economic and community development.

                                                               

“With housing that is smaller and less expensive, the value is going to be significantly different [from nearby homes],” said Mead. “If this was scaled back to just single-family homes, it would make be feel a little better about out, but pushing it to 17 units is, in my opinion, not in keeping with the neighborhood.”

Clavette also pointed out an area of “significant wetlands” located between the new housing sites and the back part of the lot, to be placed in conservation.

“I don’t want to be a NIMBY [not in my back yard],” she said, “but I need you to know that there’s a lot more to that land than meets the eye.”

While most in the 30-person crowd remained mum, or else voiced practical concerns, such as how long construction might last, or how increased traffic on Broadturn Road would be handled, Clavette and Mead were among the few to demand the project be scaled back. They also found fault with volunteer-labor method of construction and the condo-association Habitat envisions for site management. That, they said, might lead to shoddily built, poorly maintained homes, occupied by a merry-go-round of tenants.

But Bolton put the kibosh on that notion: Habitat buyers are pre-qualified financially, trained in home maintenance and, while it takes Habitat up to nine months to built each home, given the on-the-job training it provides, that, too, helps keep values high.

“Because it tales us a little longer to build a house, a lot of contractors tell us we actually do a better job because we don’t have a profit motive,” he said.

Bolton also said that because Habitat will only self-finance about eight of the homes, with the others privately financed through the Maine Housing Authority’s first-time home-buyer program, the site will feature a mix of income levels, with all homes taxed at full assessed value, not the lower purchase price.

Still, Clavette said, housing alliance officials should have contacted property abutters before unveiling the project.

“That would have been the right thing to do,” she said. “I'm disappointed this has gone this far and it's the first time we've got to have our say.”

That comment caused Town Councilor Jessica Holbrook, who sits as liaison to the housing alliance, to pop out of her seat.

“You are the first people seeing this proposal, that’s the whole point of this meeting,” she said. “To be honest with you, the Town Council hasn’t even seen this yet.”

Everyone from Holbrook and Bolton, to housing alliance officials, to planning department staffers – even project consultants Gawron Turgeon Architects and Northeast Civil Solutions engineering – assured residents that nothing is set in stone at this time.

“This is all very ground floor, very beginning stages,” said Holbrook.

That said, it appears any changes made to the proposal will be matters of degree. Some kind of affordable-housing project will be built on the site.

“What I’m hearing is that this is definitely going in,” said Clavette.

“That was the direction given by the Town Council when the property was purchased,” said Town Planner Dan Bacon. “We haven’t been given any indication to change that direction.”