Fri, 07/28/2023 - 8:45am

SUSAN JOHNS

Outside St. Philip’s March 24, from left, are church members Terry Heller and Jon Young, Priest In Charge Tom Junkert and Amistad’s (now commonspace) Meredith Pesce and Brian Townsend. File photo

Friday night, July 28, commonspace withdrew its business license application for Harbor Peer and Wellness Center at St. Philip’s Church in Wiscasset. Commonspace Executive Director Brian Townsend Friday afternoon confirmed those plans and Friday evening shared a letter he said he had just sent the selectboard.

“I feel sad about it,” he said in a phone interview. “We know we can provide this elsewhere and we can still support Lincoln County. But we invested a lot of our thoughts and work and intention into establishing this in Wiscasset, and we’ve gotten to know Wiscasset really well, and know that a lot of people suffer very anonymously here and this (support) is really needed.

“And the worst part of it is, even though wherever we open, folks in Wiscasset are as welcome as from anywhere else in Lincoln County, transportation is often a big barrier.”

In the interview and the letter to the selectboard, Townsend explained the board’s recent delay in deciding the license request, and the uncertain outcome, have led commonspace to seek space elsewhere in Lincoln County for the state-contracted program.

The two-page letter reads in part, “We have seen our work and the work of Recovery Centers like ours being the difference between isolation and connection, and between despair and hope, and we cannot in good conscience delay the delivery of our programming one day more than we have already endured.”

Townsend told Wiscasset Newspaper the major reason for the “tough and emotional decision” was “the urgency to get the (center) open ... If we had known in the spring that it would be this drawn out and that we still would have an uncertain conclusion, we would have just set our sights elsewhere then.”

Asked where the center might go, Townsend said, “We have talked with different groups in Damariscotta and in Edgecomb, and I don’t know where we’re going to land. But I also know that we’re working really quickly, just because we do feel a sense of urgency about it.”

St. Philip’s Church Senior Warden Jon Young had said July 26, he would encourage commonspace to keep pursuing a business license for the center at the Hodge Street church.

After selectmen’s two-month tabling of the license request July 18, commonspace’s contracting agency for the center, Maine Department of Health and Human Services, asked commonspace to open a center in Lincoln County as soon as possible, Young said July 26. He reiterated his and the church’s desire to host the center as another way to help the community. He said contrary to some residents’ concerns, “this center is not for drug rehab. It is not a place for drug addicts to come hang out. This is a place for people who are already in recovery programs to come and talk to peers, and for a little bit more reassurance ...”

July 28, after church and commonspace officials met, Young said in another phone interview, “It’s unfortunate that the people who objected are going to feel they’ve won. I don’t think they did. The most important thing is for a center to be open, for the benefit of people who need the support. And I am fully in support of (commonspace) opening as soon as they can at a location that is not anywhere near as adversarial ... and people are going to understand, it’s all about helping people.”

Given the circumstances, commonspace’s decision was “the wisest one,” St. Philip’s member Anne Dill, a supporter of the plan to host the center, said Friday night.

The vestry had taken no new votes since nodding the center and a separate plan for single-resident occupancy (SRO) apartments upstairs last spring, Young said. Plans had called for the church to rent commonspace an office for the wellness center the business license application described as a “community resource and recovery center offering support groups and one-on-one coaching/mentoring, along with other community enrichment offerings.” The July 18 hearing yielded support, concerns commonspace tried to allay, and some residents’ requests for a delay. Selectmen tabled the license request until Sept. 19 and asked commonspace for a more detailed plan.

In the hearing, Selectman William “Bill” Maloney proposed the license request be tabled and said that would give commonspace a chance to look elsewhere. He did not mean it should be outside Wiscasset, rather outside a neighborhood, he added Friday night. He said he later suggested to commonspace two Wiscasset sites that were not in residential areas.

Maloney said he feels sorry for the church in this because it does a lot of good, such as through its food pantry, but the matter could have been handled better and commonspace was “less than forthcoming” before and during the hearing. And he hopes commonspace will “get with the people more” when it proposes the apartments.

July 18, Hodge Street’s Tanya Hammond told selectmen the church’s partnerships with Amistad had her “very worried ... St. Philip’s desires to help those in need, and for financial assistance to maintain their facilities, are now coming at our community’s expense. They are inviting all the problems, safety risks and financial liabilities associated with homelessness and substance abuse into our village.” Hammond said “at the very least” the selectboard should place restrictions on the license and make clear how enforcement will be managed.

Friday night after commonspace pulled its license request, Hammond said she was relieved, and she wondered if it was the path of least resistance instead of putting together a plan “that keeps in mind everyone in the community. “I think the services they are suggesting are services our society needs. I just don’t have confidence” in commonspace’s plan, including the choice to have it at St. Philip’s, Hammond said.

As for the option Young voiced July 26 that if the center did not go in St. Philip’s, the church could still become a satellite site for the program, Townsend said “We would cross that bridge when we come to it.” It would not be considered anytime soon, as the center will take time to become established before any satellite sites would be considered, he said.

And as for Young’s other suggestion the church could let commonspace hold recovery meetings in the parish hall for free, like St. Philip’s has done for decades for Alcoholics Anonymous, Townsend said he would be willing to entertain it, but he reiterated there are no immediate plans and commonspace needs to work now on starting a center. A free meeting space for a support group is also something the church could offer another organization, he said.

Wherever the wellness center goes, Townsend said commonspace would still find a way to recognize a late family member of Young’s – a woman Young said grew up around St. Philip’s and would likely have used the center.

In June, Townsend said the need for a business license for the Wiscasset center was a surprise but that Amistad was applying for it and was continuing plans for the apartments; the organization was working with an architect on the units and anticipated asking Maine Housing Authority (MaineHousing) for more time. In March, MaineHousing announced a $916,000 grant for Amistad to create 12 permanent units. Amistad’s grant application stated those would be completed by October, with move-in in October and November.

In a phone interview July 26, MaineHousing spokesman Scott Thistle said the contract allows for an extension and “Amistad doesn’t even necessarily have to ask for that.” Thistle said the state law the funding stems from “has some deadlines on it. However, I’m told by our finance team that they supported this project and if (it) runs up against the grant deadline for the state funds, we intended to backfill the money so that they can move forward with the SRO ... project, if it takes more time to get approvals ...” Town approval is one of the grant’s benchmarks, he explained.

Thistle added, Amistad has a track record of success with similar housing and the Wiscasset units “would provide an important piece of infrastructure that currently does not exist at all in Lincoln County, in terms of helping prevent and respond to homelessness. So there are a lot of boxes that Amistad checked for this proposal,” he said.

Townsend confirmed Friday, an architect is still at work, so there is not yet a site plan to submit to the town. Commonspace still plans on doing the apartments at St. Philip’s. “Very much so,” he said.

He said he would be naive to think the project will not have some organized opposition. “But we’re always ready to be surprised. Maybe that won’t happen that way ... There’s certainly going to be a process (with) the planning board” and, thanks to MaineHousing’s support, “if there are curveballs or delays, we are prepared to ride them out and definitely bring this project to fruition. We are very committed to it,” Townsend said.