By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer 

CASCO — Two people on the Casco Board of Selectmen brought up the idea of using the Berry property as a space for affordable housing.

First, Mary-Vienessa Fernandes said that affordable housing for the elderly is one of the services that the Town of Casco lacks. Later, Fernandes read an e-mail from the director of Avesta Housing, which listed some of the drawbacks that would make it less likely for Casco to get picked as a site for affordable housing. The e-mail concluded that other neighboring towns were able to develop senior-citizen housing, so there was hope that Casco could work toward doing the same, Fernandes said.

“I put this on the agenda for current information. We can keep it on agenda to discuss from time to time,” she said. 

Then, Chairman Thomas Peaslee presented a conceptual sketch of what housing could look like in that space. 

“The basic intent is just to show that it can be done. That’s all,” Peaslee said.  

The purchase of the Berry property was approved by the majority of voters at Annual Town Meeting in 2016. It is adjacent to the Casco Town office, and it is behind and beside the Casco Fire Station. The lot has beachfront property, too. 

During the Casco meeting on Feb. 9, Fernandes said constructing affordable housing would fill a void in the community. 

The selectmen had in their packet an email from the CEO of Avesta Housing. 

“I want to tell you a little bit of how this came about in your package,” she said. “For a number of years, people have had concerns about limited housing, housing that is not available” for people on a limited income such as the elderly, Fernandes said.

She cited the input of residents who listed the issues facing Casco as the development of Berry property, and the lack of senior housing. 

Also, about four years ago, Fernandes was at the Avesta Housing office, and she spoke to a housing director for about an hour, and asked if it was possible to get affordable housing in Casco. 

She recently mentioned this conversation to Casco Interim Town Manager Don Gerrish, who said he could request that Avesta take a look at the land in Casco and do a quick feasibility study.

The result was an email dated Jan. 25. It was directed to Gerrish from Avesta Housing President/CEO Dana Totman. 

“We have done a quick examination of the Casco site. One important question is whether or not the comp plan complies with state growth management policies. If it does not and since there is no {public} water and sewer, it would essentially not be eligible for Maine Housing funding. If the comp plan does comply, then the site is eligible for Maine Housing funding but not very competitive,” Totman wrote.  

“Among the items which hurt Casco’s funding chances are:

• Casco is not a service-center community

• It is not walkable, e.g., {no} sidewalks to many activities of daily living

• The area rents are quite modest

• Probably unlikely the town would provide a TIF

• Unknown if town would donate the land or sell at a discount.”

“I am happy to discuss this more and chat with other town officials at any time. In short, it is likely very difficult to secure the funding for senior housing on that site in Casco but perhaps not impossible if there is a groundswell of strategic,political and community support. Avesta has senior developments in Windham, Standish, Raymond, Naples, Bridgton and Gray but most were built back in the 80’s when federal funding was the source of affordable housing financing,” Totman wrote. 

A copy of the letter was place on the Town of Casco website and Facebook page. 

Fernandes said although there are a number of challenges, there is hope. 

After all, the selectmen are pursuing the process of doing an updated comp plan, Fernandes said, adding, “Next in line would be housing.”

“So, we can bring this up from time to time on the agenda to have a discussion, possibly to devise a plan or have no plan at all. That, too, would be a plan,” she said.

Gerrish said that looking into the feasibility of affordable housing on one sectionof that town-owned property is “a process of deciding what to do with your resources.” 

“My suggestion to all of you is: How do you want to go about coming up with some proposals. Is it going to be the select-board? I know you had a commitee that was set up, an ad-hoc committee. I looked at the list. They had a long laundry list you might want to consider. You need to think about the process of putting this into a proposal,” he said.

He suggested the board seek the help of professionals such as a landscape design firm.