Maple Property Holdings, LLC is exploring making housing on Route One near Wiscasset’s Birch Point Road, and wants to know what the public thinks, said an architect involved. 

“I would love to see that engagement from the community,” Patrick Boothe, partner and principal architect at Woodhull in Portland, said in encouraging people to come to the town office Oct. 7 for a 6 p.m. public informational meeting.

“The whole point is to show that this developer’s interested in building housing that can work for the community at a scale that is necessary to make the project actually pencil. We are very early in the design," Boothe said in last week's interview. "We welcome feedback. We welcome criticism. We would answer questions … We want to put this out in front of everyone (for their) comments, positive or negative. 

“As (with) any project, it can be refined and improved upon by having feedback from the community, so that’s what we’re really excited about, with this meeting … that we hope is well-attended.”

The would-be project is an example of how Maine’s new housing density laws can lead to housing “that’s attainable by people who live in the community,” Boothe said.

He said the early design involves a total of 170 units spread over multiple buildings, including a four-story one furthest back and, nearer the road, three-story ones, some with gable roofs, “to keep that scale down, along Route One.” Also listed is a trail Boothe anticipated would be open to the public. 

Figuring the housing units' placement required asking, “Where would you place them in the property in a sensible way that’s contextual to the surroundings, but still meeting the end goal of building it dense enough so that it makes financial sense,” he explained. 

Boothe noted Woodhull worked on the design with Portland landscape architects Aceto Kimball (AKLA). That firm’s Seth Kimball will be at the meeting, Boothe said.

“He was paramount in having this design put together that we think has a great community feel to it.” 

Boothe said of the lot, “There’s nothing there right now but the idea is you could build a community that works well for itself, but also has the whole connection with Bath and Wiscasset on Route One.”

Like Boothe, Wiscasset Economic Development Director Aaron Chrostowsky, interviewed separately, encouraged public turnout Oct. 7. Chrostowsky called the would-be project transformative. “It’s going to help fill a need for affordable, workforce housing in the community and the region … and I think it will help spur more of that kind of development.”

Woodhull and AKLA's site analysis and conceptual design released ahead of the meeting show the eastern 6.2 acres of the 32.8-acre site are the best to build on, due to easy access from Route One, and being the largest single area of little slope. The document states steeper slopes in this portion "are small enough to be cut and/or filled as needed to accommodate the site plan."

Maple Property Holdings owns the property and, if it decides to submit a project application, would not do that until Wiscasset has adopted the new, state-mandated density rules, Boothe said. Without those, the project would not meet town ordinances, Boothe explained.

“It’s something that can happen once these (local) rules are enacted.”

Wiscasset Code Enforcement Officer George Chase said Sept. 28, state-legislated zoning and density changes "are being addressed, with proposed zoning changes currently being reviewed" by the ordinance review committee.

Boothe described the potential development at 257 Bath Road as very sensible.

"We know that it's large, dense, it's going to be a little bit new for Wiscasset ... but this is the sort of thing that takes hard conversations, because this (density) is what is needed in order to help alleviate this housing crisis that we're in. It's not cost-effective to build one or two-family homes in Maine anymore, unfortunately, and have it still be affordable by most of the people who live in Maine."

Spreading costs over a larger development "allows the units to be obtainable for most of the people working and living in Wiscasset," Boothe said.

The meeting has a Zoom option: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81345425629

Meeting ID: 813 4542 5629