An early rendering of an affordable senior housing project proposed for Stroudwater Street in Westbrook. Contributed / Westbrook Housing
Plans for a $15 million, 55-unit senior housing project across from Westbrook High School moved forward Monday after the City Council gave preliminary approval to a tax deal that will help fund the project.
Under the tax plan, the facility run by the Westbrook Housing Authority will pay property taxes, but the city will apply 75% of the tax revenue from it to the project’s financing. The city will retain the other 25%.
Final approval is still needed, and housing authority Director Chris LaRoche said in the meantime he is working to resolve a sidewalk issue that he has described as “a major impediment” to the project.
The housing project would be built next to the National Guard Armory and in order to properly situate the project’s sidewalks to connect its senior residents with downtown, the sidewalks would need to go part of the Armory property. The National Guard earlier told LaRoche that it might need that area for future parking.
LaRoche said he is working on getting the required permission and hopes to have it in hand before the final Planning Board vote on the project next month. The permission is critical, he said, because he anticipates that many of the residents of the new apartment building will not drive or will need to walk for health reasons.
“There is a lot of coordination, and we also have a solution we will propose if the sidewalk does not work out,” LaRoche said.
While the project was criticized in December by the Planning Board for its boxy design, it received no feedback from city councilors Monday. Councilor Victor Chau, however, said he encouraged residents to attend the council’s public hearing on the project Feb. 28.
“I’d love if people had questions or comments to come speak about this,” Chau said. “Often we approve things. No one says anything. Then, after it is built, the complaints come in.”
The apartments will be available to couples 55 and older with an annual income not exceeding $63,950, according to the housing authority. The median annual income for an individual in the Portland Metro area – which includes Westbrook – is about $31,500, according to 2019 census data, compared to $29,000 in the state.
Just over 7,500 Westbrook residents, or 30%, are age 55 and above, according to 2019 census figures provided by LaRoche.
The housing project will help meet the need for some of the approximately 1,200 people on the waiting list for housing authority apartments for older residents.
The housing authority is committing about $250,000 to build a new skating rink to replace the skating area that would be eliminated by the new senior apartment building. The rink would come at no cost to the city, LaRoche said.
A site for the rink, which would have a concrete base, making it easier to maintain, has not been chosen. Potential locations include Riverbank Park, a site near the dog park by Hannaford, or at a field off Foster Street, he said.
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