The Damariscotta Board of Selectmen will not pursue a temporary ban on construction of low-income housing, at least for now.
The decision addresses a request from residents who oppose a plan to build temporary housing for homeless people in their neighborhood.
The nonprofit Stepping Stone Housing Inc. plans to build the project at the Blue Haven property on the corner of Hodgdon and Pleasant streets.
The neighbors asked the selectmen to pursue a temporary ban – a moratorium – on new construction of low-income housing in the town.
The residents say their concerns extend beyond the Stepping Stone proposal to low-income housing in Damariscotta as a whole.
Damariscotta has four affordable-housing developments, where residents are eligible for subsidies and subject to income limits: High Meadow Apartments, with 23 units; Ledgewood Court, with 24; Pond Circle, with 16; and Salt Bay Apartments, with 24.
The group argues the developments lack adequate maintenance and supervision, and have high crime rates relative to the rest of the town.
Amy Lalime, of Hodgdon Street, opposes the Stepping Stone development and supports a moratorium.
The Stepping Stone proposal forms the basis for the request, Lalime said, but it also has to do with affordable housing in the town as a whole.
“Do we want our town overrun with affordable-housing people, or do we want a destination tourist town that will attract people to our businesses and be a place for people to come?” Lalime said.
“Do we want to see neighborhood housing and private buildings being taken over by more and more low-income housing?” Lalime said. “Is that where we want our town to go, in the name of helping people? Are we going to help all of Lincoln County?”
The town needs time to reflect on how much more affordable housing it wants, she said.
Damariscotta voters have the sole authority to enact a moratorium, but the selectmen can place a moratorium before voters. Residents can also bring a moratorium to a vote through a petition process.
Maine law allows a moratorium only when a development would either overburden public facilities or when town regulations are “inadequate to prevent serious public harm” as a result of the project.
Stepping Stone’s plan does not appear to meet either of these criteria, Damariscotta Town Manager Matt Lutkus said.
“We do have in place a process for reviewing the impact on the community,” Lutkus said. The code enforcement officer and the Damariscotta Planning Board will review any application from the nonprofit.
The plan also does not pose an obvious threat to overburden public facilities.
The review process “takes into account the impact on the infrastructure, on the community, the public safety services, and all other services in the community and the neighborhood,” Lutkus said.
Lutkus recommended that the board take formal action to indicate it does not believe a moratorium is necessary.
The board, after some debate, decided not to take any action. Selectman Robin Mayer was the only board member to express interest in a moratorium. Mayer lives on Church Street, about one-tenth of a mile from Blue Haven.
The facility will bring people from outside Damariscotta “and we don’t know the kind of people that will be coming in to live there, whether they will have jobs or will not,” Mayer said. “There are precious few jobs in Damariscotta for anyone to take.”
“What will this do, if anything, to increases in crime or drug use in the neighborhood?” Mayer said. “What will it do, if anything, in increases or decreases in property values in the neighborhood?”
Jenny Begin, of Pleasant Street, is one of the area residents who have concerns about the Stepping Stone proposal.
The group will not start a petition, for now.
“The problem is, we haven’t seen a real proposal” by Stepping Stone, “so we can’t effectively design a petition,” Begin said. The residents are also not certain “what a moratorium would really accomplish that thorough planning board review couldn’t do.”
For those reasons, the residents are not going to start collecting signatures, “but we’re leaving the option open,” Begin said.
Meanwhile, the residents hope to set up another meeting with Stepping Stone representatives.
The deadline for the group to submit a petition for annual town meeting is Friday, April 28.
