Ten new units of market-rate housing are likely coming to Belfast’s downtown and may be the first privately funded apartment construction there in almost 15 years — but not without some pushback.
The city’s planning board approved a proposal Wednesday by Randall Cornelius to build two new structures off Vine Street behind Park Place Suites, one with four three-bedroom apartments and another with three, plus renovation of a retail structure to add two apartments. The 4-1 vote followed a public hearing that brought strong opposition from six Vine Street neighbors, who felt the project was too large and out of character for the street.
“I think there will be some good things that come out of this. I think there will be some adjustments to make,” board chair Pippa Jollie said after the approval, encouraging Cornelius to talk to his neighbors.
The project comes amid a small flurry of new housing efforts in the midcoast city, but stands apart because it will be privately funded.
“This one’s really exciting because it represents unsubsidized development for apartments in Belfast for the first time in many years,” Bub Fournier, the city’s code and planning director, said ahead of the meeting.
That puts it in the rarer category of construction for the “missing middle,” or people who make too much for housing assistance but not enough to compete on the high-end market. This type of housing is in demand across Maine — including in Belfast — but is often difficult for developers to make work financially.
The city has been tweaking its code for years to encourage it from smaller local developers such as Cornelius, according to Fournier, along with opportunities to redevelop or build more densely on existing developed lots to make use of the space.
Belfast has recently attracted several subsidized housing projects, including redevelopment of the city’s former Congress Street public works facility into 48 apartments. Fifty units on White Street were permitted in 2020; Waldo Community Action Partners plans to build 60 more along Route 3.
In August, another private developer proposed 200 “missing middle” units of mixed development about a mile south of downtown near the Route 1 bypass, but said it would take another five or six years to construct. Plans haven’t been approved for that project yet.
The last fully privately funded units the city approved were likely triplexes at the Cohousing and Ecovillage project in 2011, according to Fournier.
A 2023 state housing study found Waldo County was short 900 units of housing because of historically slow production — on the lower end among Maine counties — and would need between 2,100 and 2,300 units to be built by 2030.
Vine Street residents who spoke in opposition to the proposal Wednesday said they saw a need for more housing in the city generally, but thought the new project would overwhelm their quiet, tight-knit street of single-family homes while increasing traffic and adding light pollution.
“I see this as the forced urbanization of our neighborhood,” resident Peter Wilkinson said.
Cornelius thanked them for coming and said the project would not be overly disruptive, comparing it to two houses side by side. He owns 18 other properties in Maine, the majority of them in coastal Waldo County, according to materials submitted to the planning board. He expects the project to cost $1.015 million.
Board member Gianne Conard, the only one to vote against the approval, said during board review of the project that she felt it would have an adverse effect on the neighborhood for similar reasons. Member Geoff Gilchrist was absent.
The Wednesday meeting was a review of an amendment to the Vine Street site plan to allow the new construction; the board approved that amendment and a use permit, meaning the developer can now pull building permits.
