The Bangor City Council is planning a special meeting to reconsider the tax deal it approved this week for a housing development intended for chronically homeless people.
The plan uses a rare procedural move to challenge a deal that councilors approved in two 6-3 votes on Monday. It’s unclear whether those calling for the meeting have any new information that would sway councilors who voted yes on the measure to help the housing project, which would be the first of its kind in Bangor. Some community members have pushed back on the development, saying they don’t want the city to support it or sacrifice potential tax revenue.
The meeting, which has not yet been added to the council’s official calendar, is being planned for Monday at 5:15 p.m. Reconsideration of Monday’s decisions on the Yellen Pines facility will be the only item on the agenda, according to Councilor Michael Beck, who shared details of the meeting based on emails councilors received Wednesday from City Manager Carollynn Lear.
City spokesperson David Warren said that a potential special meeting was being discussed but couldn’t confirm as of early afternoon Thursday.
The deal includes the creation of tax increment financing district, or TIF district, and accompanying credit enhancement agreement that directs the city to reimburse 75% of Yellen Pines’ property taxes back to the facility for a 30-year period.
The project is a 30-unit permanent supportive housing facility meant to house homeless residents while offering 24/7 services to assist them with substance use issues, mental health and life skills. The Bangor Housing Development Corporation plans to build it on Corporate Drive, near the former site of a large homeless encampment known as Tent City. The land is currently owned by the city and sitting empty, so it does not generate any tax revenue.
Council Chair Susan Hawes is calling the special meeting because Councilor Wayne Mallar wants to have the council reconsider its Monday decision, according to Beck. Hawes and Mallar made two of the three ‘no’ votes earlier this week, alongside Councilor Carolyn Fish. None of those councilors responded to messages seeking comment Thursday.
Per the city’s code, any councilor can ask for reconsideration of a motion at a meeting held within 10 days of the original vote, but it’s unclear that a re-vote would result in a different outcome. Votes cannot be reconsidered more than once.
“I have not heard a single scrap of new information” about the project since Monday, Beck said. “I don’t understand what he’s looking to gain out of this other than waste everyone’s time.”
The councilors who voted to approve the deal for Yellen Pines are Beck, Daniel Carson, Susan Deane, Susan Faloon, Joe Leonard and Angela Walker.
Deane and Faloon also said Thursday that they do not intend to vote differently if the council takes a re-vote on the project, although Deane noted that she will be on vacation next week so may not be able to attend the meeting.
Leonard similarly said he has yet to hear any new information that would change his mind. “Councilors have had over a month to press staff with questions regarding the TIF and the project itself, so I see no reason for any councilor to change their vote at this point,” he said
Carson and Walker did not respond to requests for comment Thursday afternoon.
The housing project has not received any grant money from the city, making the tax deal Bangor’s only contribution. Its development is primarily funded through a Maine Housing program introduced by the Mills administration to build similar housing facilities across the state.
The Bangor facility needs the tax reimbursement to move forward, Mike Myatt, executive director of the Bangor Housing Development Corporation, told councilors this week.
“We stand behind our project and know Yellen Pines will help address the homelessness crisis in Bangor,” Myatt said Thursday.
The city estimated that the building would generate about $46,000 in taxes each year, according to an economic development department memo. Under the tax agreement, the city would reimburse 75% — about $34,500 — to the project while keeping about $11,500 within the city’s affordable housing TIF district fund for other initiatives. That’s about $1,035,000 in reimbursements over 30 years.
Beck also noted that non-essential items on Monday’s committee agendas will have to be pushed back to make time for the Yellen Pines discussion, which he said will put the council behind on other work.
Criticism of the housing development has mostly stemmed from an increasingly vocal group of Bangor residents who say they don’t trust nonprofits like the one building the complex or think the city should endorse projects using the Housing First model, which does not require substance use or mental health treatment as a condition of getting someone into housing.
“There’s been a lot of public pushback,” Faloon said when asked why she thinks the special meeting is being planned. “Personally, I think it’s because people do not have either enough information or the correct information.”