LEWISTON — A subsidized housing project on lots burned in arson fires in 2013 got the blessing of the City Council on Tuesday night.
Councilors voted 4-3 to back property owner Phyllis St. Laurent’s plan to build 29 housing units with subsidized rents on three properties she owns: 149 Bartlett St., 110 Pierce St. and 114 Pierce St.
St. Laurent is working with the Developer’s Collaborative, a group that has built projects in Lewiston before. It would be a $5 million project with subsidized rents and federal housing vouchers tied to the development.
“I think it’s important that we acknowledge that she is a taxpayer rebuilding a project she has had for years and lost due to a fire,” Councilor Mark Cayer said. “It’s an important thing to put out there for the public to realize.”
Councilors Donald D’Auteuil, Nathan Libby, Kristin Cloutier and Mark Cayer voted in favor of the plan.
Jim Hatch of the Developer’s Collaborative said the project would be aimed at households making 60 percent of the median income, about $33,700 for a family of four.
“We’ve heard it said that a project like this will help stabilize this neighborhood, and I think that’s where much of the debate is,” Cayer said. “I’m a firm believer at this point that this is only a small piece of stabilization.”
Councilors Leslie Dubois, Doreen Christ and Michael Lachance voted against it. Dubois noted that the project would be valued at about $1.5 million despite St. Laurent’s $5 million investment.
“Nobody else can go in and get any return on their investment if this project can afford to invest $5 million and only get $1.5 million in value,” Dubois said.
Economic Development Director Lincoln Jeffers said St. Laurent’s plan is asking less from the city than a similar one proposed by Volunteers of America Northern New England last summer.
According to last summer’s plan, the city would have taken over the properties and given them to Volunteers of America Northern New England at no cost, would have waived fees on the project and created a 15-year Tax Increment Financing District.
“This project is going to be taxable,” Jeffers said. “The developer is not asking for tax-increment finance help. We will retain 100 percent of the taxes paid.”
He estimated that St. Laurent would pay about $37,000 in property taxes each year when the work is finished. Jeffers said staff is recommending that the city put aside half of the property taxes paid by St. Laurent in a fund that could be used by other, smaller landlords to help improve their properties.
Overall, Jeffers said the city must replace some of the housing that’s been removed in the past two years — not just properties that burned in fires but 35 other buildings the city has demolished. Building high-quality housing, subsidized or otherwise, is the only way to improve the downtown’s image.
City Administrator Ed Barrett agreed.
“This is the last neighborhood of choice. People as a general rule do not choose to rent in this neighborhood,” Barrett said. “If I was new to this community and I drove down Bartlett Street today and I saw that sand lot on that property and the garbage at the curb and problems that are so visible, I would not rent there. That’s one of the things we need to work together as a group to overcome.”
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