The city of Caribou has owned a 23-acre expanse of grass and gravel off Brook Street for the better part of two decades. Next to a handful of houses that dot an east-west state route, the lot primarily serves as a snow dump for the city’s public works department.
A municipal committee wants to turn it into affordable housing.
The Caribou Development Committee’s proposal aims to transform the property into as many as 33 lots for single-family homes and/or duplexes. The project is still in its infancy, but is part of a larger effort by the city’s economic development arm to tackle the housing crisis by marketing underutilized city-owned properties to builders and developers.
“Caribou doesn’t just need more houses. We need a more diverse housing stock that includes workforce housing, starter homes, senior housing and affordable rental options,” Jacob Beaupre, a member of the development committee, said.
The Brook Street lot is among more than 200 acres owned by the city that the committee identified as having high potential for residential redevelopment in an analysis this spring. Two reports the city compiled — a housing needs assessment and an action plan — showed deficiencies in available housing, especially for lower income residents.
“There’s gaps in the rental market. Clearly there’s gaps in the homeownership market,” Eric Sanderson, Caribou’s economic and community development specialist, said. “The city taking the lead on this housing initiative really shows that we’re willing to solve that.”
The project received the blessing of the Caribou City Council last week, which authorized up to $20,000 in funding for surveying and an environmental assessment of the site. By footing the cost for some of the upfront work to ensure the property is developable, the committee hopes to remove uncertainty for potential buyers and make the space easier to market.
“The intent is not for the city to permanently absorb those costs or take a loss,” Beaupre said. “Those costs would be considered as part of the property’s eventual sale price, with the goal of recovering the city’s initial investment when the property is sold.”
Municipalities in Maine and across the U.S. have taken similar hands-on approaches to stimulate stagnant housing development as both younger Americans and seniors struggle to find quality affordable housing. Sanderson pointed to pre-approved housing plans offered by the city of Bangor as an example — though as of March, no one had utilized the plans.
Caribou’s housing stock is old, much like the rest of Aroostook County’s. Nearly 60% of all housing was constructed before 1970, and almost no new rental units have been built since 2000, the housing needs assessment found.
And while typical rent and mortgage payments are significantly lower than the national median, so is the area’s median income. Caribou residents report facing “notable housing-related financial stress,” the assessment found.
The committee chose the Brook Street lot because of its proximity to Caribou’s downtown and existing utilities. The property is within a hydrant district, has a sewer main running through it and is close to a Versant Power line on nearby Washburn Street.
The project is a long way from its first homes being constructed, and it would likely be built in phases to be “palatable” for abutting property owners and Caribou taxpayers, Sanderson said. But funding the initial site assessments is a first step toward solving the city’s housing shortfalls.
“It’s going to have to go through a huge public process that’s going to probably take a couple years,” Sanderson said. “But I’m really hopeful and excited to see what the residents and stakeholders of the process think because I think this is a really important project.
“The city’s really putting their money where their mouth is. It’s given us the opportunity to take the lead and take charge and get the housing that our state and our region desperately need.”