The Cape Elizabeth Town Council on Monday increased the budget for a housing study by $30,000.
Consultants have until March 11 to submit their proposals for the housing study, which now has a $50,000 budget following the council’s 5-2 vote. The council also set an Aug. 30 deadline for completion of the study, which is intended to provide a better understanding of the town’s housing needs.
The study will look at all demographics, Town Planner Maureen O’Meara said.
“They look at different income groups and how much those folks can afford and then how much housing is available,” O’Meara said. “It’s seniors, it’s young adults, it’s families with children – it’s everybody.”
The town put the project out for bids in November with a budget cap of $20,000, but received no applications.
O’Meara said the $30,000 increase takes into account the cost of similar studies in southern Maine and the need to complete Cape’s study ahead of a referendum in November. That citizen vote can undo zoning amendments made in the town center, which would have permitted the now-scratched Dunham Court affordable housing project.
“My hope in proposing a $50,000 budget is I don’t have to come back to you … and say ‘we still don’t have anybody who has bid on this,'” she said.
O’Meara expects some proposals will be in the $40,000 range. The council will be able to choose from multiple proposals and allow the price of the study to be “dictated by the market,” she said.
Kevin Justh of Spruce Lane told the council that the study was worth the expense.
“It’s an investment in planning, and it’s something that’s going to get paid back through the educated discussion and analysis,” Justh said. “This isn’t a cost where we’re not getting something back. This is an investment where the returns are going to be generational in nature.”
Councilor Tim Reiniger, who voted against increasing the budget for the study along with Councilor Susan Gillis, questioned whether the study could be completed “in-house.”
While the town does “have an excellent planner and we have some excellent staff on hand,” Town Manager Matt Sturgis said, “this is in many ways a specialized area of analysis. I think the residents may be better served by someone from the outside providing that.”
Payment for the housing study will come from the town’s unassigned funds balance, a surplus of town revenue that has accumulated over the years. The current balance of that fund is $4.4 million, Sturgis said.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
