Who's Afraid of Affordable Housing in Cape Elizabeth?

It’s the oldest trick in the book. If you don’t like the message, shoot the messenger.

In this case the “message” in Cape Elizabeth, Maine where I live and own property is “Plan B for Community Housing,” a citizen petition to allow for the development of affordable housing on public land left to the town by a Revolutionary War veteran named Thomas Jordan and his wife Mary in 1825 for that purpose.

The Thomas Jordan estate consisted of 236 acres, 150 of which are now preserved open space as the Town Farm District on the west side of Spurwink Avenue, Tax Map R5 Lot 11, and the remaining acres — and where Community Housing would be located — is on the east side of Spurwink Avenue, Tax Map R5 Lot 10 in the Residence A (RA) zone.

If Plan B gets on the ballot in November, it will be a competing idea but not inconsistent with Plan A, the so-called “Town Center Affordable Housing Amendments” that is already scheduled to be on the ballot in November. Both Plan A and Plan B are amendments to the local zoning ordinance to enable the development of housing. Both proposals would stand or fall on their own merit.

If Plan A passes, the so-called “Town Center Affordable Housing Amendments”, it will substantially alter the zoning ordinance to enable development of a gigantic low-income housing project (“Dunham Court”) consisting of 49 one-bedroom apartments smack in the center of a beautiful coastal town across the street from blue-ribbon schools that will exclude kids unless they shack up with their parents. Plan A will also exclude the local workforce because of its very low income restrictions paired with our local economy, and will be paid for entirely with a layer cake of public subsidy costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

Plan A was passed by the town council on a divided vote last October. Within 20 days, 10% of registered Cape Elizabeth voters signed a petition to send Plan A to referendum pursuant to the Town Charter, and the developer pulled the plug instead of defending Dunham Court on the merits. The real estate remains for sale so if Plan A passes in November a developer will be back.

Community Housing is a different model of affordable housing than Dunham Court — one that includes families, the local workforce and I hope refugees from Ukraine and elsewhere. Community Housing is a model built on community values instead of maximizing corporate profit.

If passed, Plan B would amend the Cape Elizabeth Zoning Ordinance to allow for the development of “Community Housing” on the property left to the town “for the poor of said town forever” and with enough signatures — approximately 900 — Plan B will also be on the ballot in November. Voters will have a choice of 2 models of affordable housing to consider at a time when housing is a pressing concern locally and internationally.

“Community Housing” is defined as “Multiplex Housing located on town-owned land for occupancy by families with Low Income and/or Moderate Income” and allowed in the Residence A (RA) Zone on a minimum lot size of 10 acres.

“Multiplex Housing” is defined in the zoning ordinance, is already allowed in the RA Zone on a minimum lot size of 10 acres, and there are neighborhoods of multiplex housing nearby that are thriving. Community Housing will be consistent with other housing in town. That’s why the Plan B amendment is so simple. What we already allow for housing we can develop and lease as affordable housing for families and the workforce.

There are myriad reasons to vote for or against Plan A, just as there may be a host of reasons to vote for or against Plan B. Both are proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance to allow development of some sort of “affordable housing” at a critical time when the community is trying to identify our role and responsibility in housing and write our own story. Hurtful, untrue, lazy press reports of Cape Elizabeth’s alleged elitism, NIMBYism and racism sting in the face of who we are as people.

At a time when the world is at war over democracy and misinformation — looking for leadership and courage — will we rise to the call? In the face of a severe housing shortage locally and an epic refugee crisis because of the brutal invasion by Russia of Ukraine — a war over democracy — will we be silenced by a few carrying the water for Wall Street banks and real estate developers?

There is no good reason to suppress a vote on Plan B but that’s exactly what the housing cabal who hitched their wagons to Plan A and Dunham Court are doing. Rather than welcome a debate on the merits of their idea or engage in an analysis of the public benefit versus public cost, the Plan A zealots who take aim at Plan B seek to silence those with whom they disagree and bully those they resent for political reasons. “Don’t sign Plan B!” they shout. “She’s lying!” they write. “She is a witch” they want you to believe.

The shooters are a vicious little group who got burned when Dunham Court left them at the altar, each with their own personal grievance, including the City of Portland’s Housing person who lost an election over it and her blind allegiance to the model of bleak housing peddled by urban planners and real estate developers and enabled by lobbyists and special interests that cost taxpayers billions of dollars. After accosting me twice while I was collecting signatures for Plan B in fits of rage and doxxing Plan B supporters she wrote a letter to the local paper rife with nonsense urging voters not to sign Plan B. The publicly paid housing person! Against housing. Its amazing taxpayers pay her salary.

These shooters who claim to be ardent supporters of affordable housing but are warning voters in paid advertisements and gossipy Facebook Groups and sketchy websites to not sign the Plan B petition to keep Community Housing off the ballot, what are they afraid of?

To show his metal one of Plan A’s most loyal supplicants, a banker who makes a comfortable living off of publicly subsidized affordable housing and sells himself as an expert, created a website to poison the well for Community Housing. On his site for “the facts” about Plan B, the banker posted an old “map” colored with magic marker that looks like a 5th grade social studies report depicting the town’s cherished athletic fields, public gardens and trails as the “site plan location” of Community Housing in order to scare voters into believing that signing the Plan B petition will pave Gull Crest. In fact, the banker’s map show’s the area of Gull Crest where Community will not be. The banker’s map is the opposite of fact.

Why did a Wall Street banker built a website to kill Community Housing in Cape Elizabeth? To show his stuff and build a “relationship” with the developer. He showed up at every public hearing on Dunham Court and pulled a “pro forma” he ran with some numbers and with a wink to the developer testify in support of the project “wow, this project looks great, boys.”

That’s his job. The banker finances billions of dollars of low-income housing deals that for the most part churn taxpayer dollars. It’s a good gig.

The not-subtle message of the banker’s website is, “I’M AN EXPERT! DO NOT SIGN THE PETITION FOR PLAN B! COMMUNITY HOUSING WILL BE THE END OF GULL CREST AS WE KNOW IT!”

My job is lawyer and I love maps. I also love evidence and the problem with the banker’s map is that it’s evidence of nothing. It DOES NOT show the portion of the Gull Crest parcel that contains the remainder of Jordan estate in the RA zone on Tax Map R5 Lot 10. Instead, the banker’s map depicts that portion of Gull Crest that was purchased by the town in 1998 and merged with the Thomas Jordan land to the north.

Cape Elizabeth is a wonderful town. We have a lot of really smart people who do a lot of really great things for humanity. We are governed by our Charter that places on equal footing the rights and authority of the town council to pass laws and the rights and authority of citizens to pass laws.

It’s a privilege to vote not a trap. Petitioning for affordable housing is democracy not witchcraft.