Summer residents try blocking workforce housing project on MDI

A group of property owners in Northeast Harbor has filed a court appeal to try to overturn local approval of a workforce housing development.

The project, proposed by the local nonprofit organization Mount Desert 365, would create six housing units reserved for income-qualified year-round residents at the corner of Neighborhood and Manchester roads in the Mount Desert village of Northeast Harbor. The group of seven property owners challenged the town’s approval in the state’s Business and Consumer Court, but Justice Thomas McKeon ruled last month in favor of the town and upheld the town’s approval of the proposed development.

The appellants, all of whom are seasonal residents who own property near the planned development site, filed an appeal of McKeon’s decision on Monday with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, according to notices sent to the town and to Mount Desert 365.

“Mount Desert 365 is deeply disappointed by this new appeal,” the group’s executive director Kathy Miller, said. “It will add delays and expenses to much-needed year round housing. It will also add to the legal expense of the town of Mount Desert as it defends the planning board decision.”

Miller said that the town has spent more $55,000 total on the proposal, including on staff time when it was pending before the planning board and on legal fees that have come up since it was approved by the town. She said she doesn’t know what legal arguments the project opponents plan to make in the appeal.

Grady Burns, the attorney representing the project opponents, did not return messages seeking comment on Thursday.

Mount Desert 365’s roots date back to 2016, when the town decided not to allow local cruise ship visits in Northeast Harbor. Some local business owners and residents said that, if cruise ships were not going to be allowed, then something needed to be done to boost the village’s shrinking year-round population and economy. The organization was founded, with support from year-round and seasonal residents, to address the issue

Housing prices on Mount Desert Island and in coastal Maine have soared in recent years , making it more difficult for people with hourly jobs to afford to live on the island. Mount Desert 365, which owns the lot on the corner of Neighborhood and Manchester roads and others in Northeast Harbor, is hoping to develop the site and to put income-related covenants on the property so that year-round residents who work as teachers, firefighters, bank tellers or other service-related jobs can live there.

Miller said the project would consist of one existing house on the lot that is being renovated. Another single-family home and two duplexes would be built on the property, which would be owned in condominium fashion with each homeowner belonging to the property’s homeowners’ association.

Miller said the appeal to Maine’s top court could take up to a year to be resolved.