A person walks across the mall at the Orono campus of the University of Maine in July 2023. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

A bill would give Maine municipalities the first shot to buy public university buildings when they’re listed for sale within their boundaries.

The University of Maine System has been selling off several of its properties statewide as part of its 2023 strategic plan in response to long-term enrollment declines and a shift to online learning.

Since then, the system has sold or plans to sell 12 buildings. One of those buildings is the Hutchinson Center in Belfast, which the system first committed to sell to an evangelical church, before rescinding the offer over a procedural issue. The system held a second bidding process last fall and awarded the building to a local nonprofit, although the church is challenging that sale in federal court.

Rep. Janice Dodge, D-Belfast, said the controversy prompted her to introduce LD 50 to allow cities or towns the first chance to purchase university buildings within their boundaries. In a hearing Monday morning before the State and Local Government Committee, she described the Hutchinson Center sale process as “bumpy” and said the building should have been sold to the city.

“I believe municipalities should have the opportunity to purchase UMaine properties at fair market value,” Dodge said. “As one of our state’s largest economic drivers, the actions by the university system and other quasi-independent state entities have an amplified influence in the cities and towns where they own property and conduct operations.”

It’s not clear that the city of Belfast ever wanted to purchase the Hutchinson Center, as it never submitted a bid. Dodge and Sen. Glenn Curry, D-Waldo, sponsored a bill in the last legislative session to transfer the building to the city, which did not pass.

Dodge said the latest bill is not designed to affect the pending sale of the Hutchinson Center but is meant to create opportunities for other municipalities in the future.

Samantha Warren, a governmental affairs officer for the University of Maine System, testified in strong opposition to the bill Monday and said it would limit the system’s ability to generate revenue. She pointed to the sales that have already occurred, which have created affordable senior housing, a tribal court and added to Portland’s general housing stock.

“This bill would slow or even stop transformational transactions such as these, significantly delaying the beneficial repurposing of buildings and land and straining our underfunded public universities with the unnecessary cost of heating, cooling and otherwise maintaining public space,” she said.

Warren testified that the system’s current process allows the sale of property at competitive prices. And she said while the current process allows municipalities to bid, not a single town or city has submitted an offer since the selling process began in 2023.

She said municipalities that want to purchase University of Maine System buildings already have the option to seek a waiver from the competitive process through the system’s board of trustees.