Town councilors in the Portland suburb of Falmouth on Wednesday approved a workforce housing project whose developer feared backlash on the heels of votes against similar projects in other places.
The Portland-based Scittery Woods Partners is proposing 49 townhouses made up of 2-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom condominiums on 25-town owned acres on Marshall Drive that have been vacant and eyed for housing by local officials since the 1990s.
The units will be offered for $425,000, which would be affordable to those making up to 120 percent of the area median income, which is $122,400 for a two-person household. They would be income-limited on the first sale, according to John Finegan, the head of Scittery Woods who is also an associate broker at the Boulos Company.
In a Facebook post last week, Finegan implored friends to come to Wednesday’s meeting and support his project, fearing opposition from locals. But the council unanimously voted to move forward with the project, according to WMTW. Further approvals will be needed before construction can begin.
The approval comes after March votes against affordable housing projects in the neighboring suburb of Cumberland and the Franklin County town of Kingfield. In Cumberland, 69 percent of voters rejected a 107-unit development there. That prospective developer applied for the Falmouth project, but Scittery Woods’ proposal was chosen instead.
