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RPC presents prioritized housing-site inventory; county to host developer workshop, awards two $5,000 ASK grants
Summary
Regional Planning Commission staff presented a prioritized inventory of potential housing development sites compiled with Camoin Associates, and commissioners approved two $5,000 ASK grants for Bremen and Waldoboro. RPC plans a developer workshop to promote the inventory and advance shovel-ready sites.
Regional Planning Commission staff presented a finalized prioritized inventory of potential housing development sites compiled with Camoin Associates and described next steps to advance "shovel-ready" parcels for affordable housing development.
Emily (RPC) and project manager Laura walked commissioners through the process: Camoin performed a GIS desktop analysis, reviewed municipal comprehensive plans, examined environmental constraints, and contacted property owners. The inventory reduced an initial list of about 90 candidate parcels to roughly 30 prioritized sites that local officials and the RPC judged to have development potential for affordable or workforce housing.
Laura said property owners contacted during the analysis either expressed interest in selling to a developer under the right conditions or did not respond, leaving open the option for follow-up outreach. The inventory includes a mix of sites suited to single-family and multifamily development depending on town context; all sample imagery shown came from existing Maine projects.
RPC said it will host a workshop at the end of the month with Camoin Associates to present the methodology, answer developer questions and outline next steps. Commissioners and staff said the workshop will be broadly distributed to municipal officials, regional planners and developers; the RPC plans to hold the session by videoconference.
While presenting the inventory, staff also requested and received approval for two ASK grant disbursements: $5,000 to the town of Bremen to fund a consultant analysis of a townwide Internet-for-all program, and $5,000 to Waldoboro for a Yellow Book appraisal review needed to pursue federal land-and-water or recreation funding for the former Sylvania site. Both grants were approved 3-0.
RPC staff said the inventory is a living document that can be updated as properties are developed or as owners express interest. The commission said it will follow with outreach to developers and a workshop to encourage proposals that leverage existing ARPA and state funding streams.
