There are 140 people waiting to get into Pejepscot Terrace off Jordan Avenue, according to Speaker Mark Eves. Pejepscot Terrace is a senior housing center that is restricted to seniors on a fixed income below a given threshold. The units there are well-designed — everything is on one level and, while the units are small, they are spacious enough to give a good quality of life. There is also a community center on site.

In short, it’s everything affordable senior housing should be, except there isn’t enough of it.

If only, if only there were a place somewhere in Brunswick where more senior housing, using superinsulation techniques and grouped in a village-type of arrangement, could be built! If only there were enough space somewhere to build enough homes for 140 older people who need housing!

Oh, wait a minute, there is.

Stopping at the former base on Sunday was like stepping into a ghost town. There was not a soul around. There were well-kept but empty open public spaces, with picnic tables and gazebos. There were level walking trails with no one on them, there were empty paved streets, there were desolate bus stops. There is a perfectly lovely little chapel that is not currently offering services.

The nearest grocery store is at the mouth of the base entrance. The hospitals are no more than a 10-minute drive away in either direction. There are a couple of discount stores, some inexpensive restaurants, a barber shop, a credit union and a couple of banks, all within walking distance of the base entrance.

And on the base, there is a lot of land, land that is not being used for anything at all at the moment.

Yes, there’s a lot of housing around the base, but it’s not designed for seniors, it’s designed for active young people by definition. And while the prices at which the housing is being sold are good for two-income young people, it’s not good for seniors on a fixed income.

In contrast, a two-bedroom tiny house … a small, one-level home that reminds one of a playhouse in some ways … can be built with all appliances, even with super-insulation standards that would mean no conventional heating system would have to be installed … for $75,000. Building a hundred of these to accomodate a growing senior population that deserves somewhere decent to live without stairs or impediments to getting around would cost something, to be sure. Adding amenities such as a clubhouse, a bocce court, and perhaps a few shops or services, and a central outdoor green space might cost a little bit too. But the houses would be paid off in 25 years if every tenant paid an average of just $300 per month, with a nice little profit for the developer to spare. Adding a maintenance fee of $100 to cover the costs of public buildings and spaces, maintenance on the houses, perhaps a van or bus for residents, and plowing and road repair, and Brunswick’s lower-income seniors could have a lifestyle that rivals those at more well-heeled establishments.

Surely Brunswick could support a “Senior Village” somewhere in the vast emptiness that is the former Naval base.

Perhaps it’s something Speaker Eves should consider. Keeping Maine seniors in their own home communities is a priority, and it’s cheaper and much better for the soul than nursing homes. It would be easy for visiting nurses and Meals on Wheels to visit such a community.

Let’s see if space on the former base can be identified for such a purpose, and if the state and private partners see the value in such a proposal.