Scarborough Housing For Seniors Proposed

February 29, 2008

SCARBOROUGH — Another large-scale retirement community could be built in town, though the project will need Town Council approval to be built in a largely single-family neighborhood.

The project's developer, Harvest Development LLC of Vancouver, Wash., submitted plans for the retirement community in December. The company is proposing to develop the project in several phases, starting with a 118-suite building described as a service-oriented housing complex.

The next phases would be a 90-suite assisted-living facility and about 100 units of senior apartments and independent-living cottages. Residents would have to be 62 or older.

An initial public hearing and joint Town Council and Planning Board meeting on the project is scheduled for March 13. The neighborhood is zoned residential, so the project will require a contract zone.

The proposal will be reviewed by the Planning Board, then the council will review the contract zone request, said Town Planner Dan Bacon.

The community would be operated by Holiday Retirement, which manages more than 300 senior-living facilities in the United States and Canada, including facilities in Portland and Bangor. Another is under construction in Kittery.

Maine's percentage of residents who are 65 and older increased by the fourth-largest amount during the 1990s, after Hawaii, Alaska and Wyoming, according to the 2006 Brookings Institution report on the state. In 2006, 14.6 percent of the state's population was in the 65-plus age range, compared with 12.4 percent nationwide.

Other senior housing developments have been built in Scarborough in recent years, including Piper Shores, approved in 1997, which Bacon said is comparable to the new proposal.

The Bessey Commons Senior Housing project, with 54 units, is under construction at the site of a former school.

Doug Stockbridge, who founded the Huntington Common senior living community in Kennebunk, said the proposed community in Scarborough could be coming at a good time. By the time the project is completed, which he estimated could be a couple of years, the oldest baby boomers will be 64. "That's a big wave coming."

The Green Acres neighborhood, where the senior-living community is proposed, expressed opposition about a year ago to a proposed hospice facility. Residents feared it would change the character of the residential area. Several households came together to sue the town for allowing the facility, but later dropped the lawsuit when it became too costly. The hospice facility is now open.

Many neighbors said Thursday that they would prefer the retirement development to a single-family home subdivision.

"We're OK with the plan," said Julianne Simonton. "We've lived here eight years, and we knew that (property) would eventually be developed."

Brian Davis said he would prefer to see the 68 acres left undeveloped because his family frequently uses the property for recreation.

If the land is developed, however, Davis said the retirement community, like the hospice facility, would be better than some alternatives. The developer has indicated he will donate 28 acres of the property to the Scarborough Land Trust.

"The hospice center, I think, we've all kind of grown used to," Davis said. "Now that development (of the 68 acres) seems almost certain, it may not be a bad thing. I know there will still be trails if this is built according to the application."

Author: Staff Writer Anne Gleason