The town of Surry is exploring whether to add water and sewer service for residents as it seeks ways to expand housing and commercial development.
Its population of roughly 1,700 is currently served by well water, but Surry officials have launched preliminary talks with neighboring Ellsworth about the idea of connecting their town to the city’s sewer system. An official said it was a “concept more than a plan, at this point.”
As a nationwide housing shortage continues to drive up costs of living, Maine’s small towns, which lack the infrastructure to support major developments, are seeking paths to expand the housing supply and bring down costs.
“Surry is in no different place than anywhere else in Maine that’s looking for housing,” Select Board member Patrick Kane said. “If there was public water [and] sewer, it would make building on a smaller footprint more possible.”
Surry’s location just off Mount Desert Island and within sight of Acadia National Park are a draw for people moving there. Thanks to a homebuilding boom in the 1990s and 2000s, the town’s population has grown by hundreds in recent decades, a rarity for rural Maine.
But the vast majority of residents live in single family homes, about a third of which are seasonally vacant, according to state data. The median home price there is now more than $450,000, according to Zillow.
It’s not the only small town in close proximity to Maine’s tourist industry that is pushing to build more housing. Western Maine mountain towns of Eustis and Rangeley are both pushing for more housing to accommodate the local workforce.
Surry has been aware it may need to connect to a sewer and water system for years. A comprehensive plan conducted by the town and released in 2024 found that the lack of public water and sewer posed “significant challenges” to building more affordable housing units.
Still, Kane stressed that the Select Board has not yet had a serious discussion on the possibility, and that the idea is “in the very beginning stages.”
Daniel O’Connor is a Report for America corps member who covers rural government as part of the partnership between The Maine Monitor and the Bangor Daily News, with additional support from BDN and Monitor readers.