Land Use Planning
Great American Neighborhood
Sewer Extension Loan Program
"SUPPORTING WALKABLE NEIGHBORHOODS
AND COMMUNITIES"
The State of Maine is offering a pilot
program to assist Maine cities and towns that wish to encourage
neighborhood development in residential growth areas. The
Program, part of our “Hometown Maine” initiative,
is a cooperative effort of the Maine Municipal Bond Bank,
the Maine Departments of Environmental Protection and Economic
and Community Development, the State Planning Office, and
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. $3 million is
available through this pilot program.
The purpose of this program is to provide
low-interest rate loans covering the cost of sewer or sewer
extensions to eligible areas with a graduated or “patient”
payback provision that keeps payments low at the start of
the project. Interest rates and loan terms are intended
to be attractive enough that the program represents a significant
incentive for communities and developers to create new or
add to existing “Great
American Neighborhoods”.
Great American Neighborhoods can be found
in many older Maine villages, town centers and cities. They
are the compact neighborhoods where the homes keep their
value year after year.
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They have six, nearly universal, features:
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They are walkable from end to end.
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They have a civic core and a mix of neighborhood
uses
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They have a street network that is interconnected
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They have recognizable boundaries that
separate one neighborhood from another.
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They have a human scale.
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They provide for both chance meetings
and personal privacy through their street, sidewalk, and
lot design
Recent studies in Maine indicate that there
is a pent up demand among homebuyers to purchase new homes
located in “traditional” or Great American Neighborhood
settings; that communities have identified areas in their
comprehensive plans where residential growth is desired
and encouraged; and that a key factor holding up development
in such areas is the need for sewer extensions and the high
upfront costs associated with providing them. The Sewer
Extension Loan Program addresses this need and aids cities
and towns to encourage new neighborhoods in growth areas,
thus relieving development pressure in rural areas.
Program
Statement and Phase I Application materials (PDF, 259 KB)
Phase
II Loan Application (PDF, 191 KB)
For more information, contact:
John
DelVecchio, Phase I Design Application,
State Planning Office, 287-8058
Karen Asselin, Phase II Loan Application,
Maine Municipal Bond Bank, 622-9386
Bill
Brown, Sewer Construction, Department of Environmental
Protection, 287-2111
