One of the Pioneer motel’s buildings stands behind its sign on Tuesday, July 16. The motel is located on Route 1 in Edgecomb. (Nolan Wilkinson photo).
After a state inspection in April found enough violations to declare the property an “imminent health hazard,” the Pioneer Motel in Edgecomb voluntarily gave up its state lodging license, removing itself from state jurisdiction.
According to owner James “Jim” Sauvie, although he has addressed the issues cited by the state, the lodging license is no longer necessary because Pioneer Motel has converted 32 of its 35 rooms into long-term stay apartments, a process that took around eight years.
Sauvie bought the Pioneer Motel in 2001 and managed it as a motel before he began transitioning to long-term rentals. Today he maintains four rooms for summer rentals, and rents 10 units as apartments.
Sauvie originally lived in a double-wide mobile home on the motel property. After his son Casey and his daughter Shandel came back to the area and needed places to stay, he decided to build the first apartments at the motel.
“They grew up, and they moved out, and then they were coming home again,” Sauvie said. “I built apartments instead of having them move back into my house.”
Sauvie did most of the work himself, though he outsourced plumbing to his now former father-in-law.
Though his son would later move out, his daughter and her boyfriend have two children, and needed more room. Sauvie moved out of the mobile home he had on the motel property, and allowed his daughter’s family to move in.
Sauvie currently lives on the property in an apartment made up of four former motel rooms. Shandel continues to live on the property and helps her father run the business.
Sauvie said he decided to start switching much of the rest of the rooms to apartments after his divorce eight years ago because he had to do laundry, cleaning, and maintenance every day for each room.
“Doing it by myself, it was a lot,” Sauvie said. “Then, I mean, tourists are a summer thing so our income would be strictly July until September, and the rest of the year we would struggle.”
Apartments provide a more consistent source of income, Sauvie said.
Shantel Sauvie stands with her father, Pioneer Motel owner Jim Sauvie in front of his business sign on Route 1 in Edgecomb on Tuesday, July 16, Jim Sauvie’s 61st birthday. (Nolan Wilkinson photo)
Each new apartment took Sauvie between four and six months to build. Most of the apartments were made by combining two former hotel rooms.
Sauvie said he currently rents apartments for around $1,200 including utilities.
“I’ve seen places for $1,500 or $1,600,” Sauvie said. “I’m not interested in that. The only reason I would charge that much is to make a little extra money, and I would rather give people a place to stay that’s maybe a little cheaper.”
The state requires a “lodging place” to maintain at least four rooms on the same premises with stays shorter than 183 days. A lodging license requires a property to pass health inspections from a state inspector and pay a fee.
According to a notice sent to the town of Edgecomb by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, the Pioneer doesn’t need a license to remain a motel with fewer than four nightly rentals.
Edgecomb Town Clerk Claudia Coffin received a notice from the state detailing the licensing situation of the Pioneer May 21. According to the notice, because the Pioneer dropped its lodging license, it is no longer within the state’s jurisdiction to regulate. The town of Edgecomb has the authority to follow up on the Pioneer Motel’s situation, according to the notice.
The notice said an April 13 inspection found several problems at the Pioneer. The motel would have been considered an imminent health hazard had it remained under state jurisdiction. This means it would have been required to “immediately cease operations and address the conditions that pose the hazard,” according to the notice.
The notice listed a rodent infestation, lack of commercial laundry facilities, and missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors as safety hazards.
Sauvie said the violations only occurred because he was preparing the motel for the summer season and was not renting out many of his rooms. He also said it is difficult to prevent violations because he was never given any guidance on state regulation.
The state inspector who performed the inspection advised Sauvie to give up the license, he said. One of the requirements for maintaining the license was a dedicated laundry room, which Sauvie said he could not afford.
“Either I have to give up one of my three units that I rent out and turn it into a laundry facility, or I have to build one, and neither one is feasible,” Sauvie said.
Edgecomb Health Officer Kathryn Rohr and Code Enforcement Officer Phil Haas inspected the motel Tuesday, July 23. Meeting with the select board later that same day, Rohr and Haas said Sauvie has made some progress in fixing the problems listed by the state.
“(Sauvie) seemed like he wants very much to get his place into compliance and work with us and he committed to making the changes,” Rohr said.
Haas and Rohr said they were not legally allowed to inspect rooms with tenants. Haas said he and Rohr intend to visit the property again in August.
One of the Pioneer Motel’s four buildings stands on Route 1 in Edgecomb on Tuesday, July 16. The motel’s owner, Jim Sauvie, lives on the property in an apartment made up of four former hotel rooms. (Nolan Wilkinson photo)
