A developer has scaled back plans for a long-term care facility in the midcoast town of Damariscotta.
Portland-based Sandy River Co. had originally hoped to build a 102-bed nursing home at a site on Piper Mill Road. But after it withdrew that project late last year because of rising costs, it has now gone back to the town with a proposal for a smaller 70-bed assisted living facility.
Any new facility that serves older people or those with disabilities could be an asset in an aging state like Maine. But the scaling back of Sandy River’s proposal will not go too far in addressing the larger crisis of nursing home closures in Maine.
Despite the state’s aging population, those facilities have continued to close. More than 50 nursing facilities have closed in Maine over the last three decades — or nearly 40 percent of them — leaving some communities far away from the closest ones.
The Damariscotta Planning Board is considering the approval of the new facility nearly two years after initially approving a larger version of the development.
In January 2023, the planning board approved the application for a 102-bed nursing home facility at the site, according to the Lincoln County News. But in November of that year, the developer decided to not go through with it because of rising costs, high interest rates, challenges with securing loans and staffing shortages.
The developer has now come back to the planning board, and at a Tuesday meeting, discussed its application for the 70-bed assisted living facility instead. However, it did not provide any details about what services would be offered in the facility.
In the past, locals expressed concern about the size of the project and the potential for increased traffic generated by it. One person at Tuesday’s meeting said she worried that the additional traffic would make a particular intersection even more dangerous.
Officials considered adding additional stop signs at the intersection, but that decision would ultimately fall to the town and the Maine Department of Transportation.
After several hours of discussion, the planning board decided to table it until its Dec. 2 meeting to allow the developer to submit waivers and complete other items, including adding a bike rack and completing a community impact study.
