The Cape Elizabeth Town Council intends to increase by $10,000 the budget for a housing diversity study after no one bid on the project.
The town wants the study to provide a better understanding of Cape Elizabeth’s housing needs and the best type of affordable housing ahead of a November referendum. That vote may overturn zoning amendments the Council approved in October permitting a controversial and now-axed Dunham Court affordable housing project in the town center.
A request for proposals to conduct the study, with a budget of $20,000, was issued in November, but there were no takers by the Jan. 7 deadline. Town Planner Maureen O’Meara said Monday that the payment should be increased to $30,000.
“South Portland did a very similar study and they were offering $30,000,” O’Meara told the council Monday, referring to that city’s Housing Assessment and Strategy Report. “I know South Portland is a larger community than Cape Elizabeth, but in order to mine that data, I’m guessing it’s about the same amount of effort. I think if you are going to go back out again, at a minimum, you need to be talking $30,000.”
Increasing the budget provides a cap rather than an exact price, she said.
“Just because you say you have a budget that’s $30- or $40- or $50,000 doesn’t mean you’re going to have to spend that much,” she said. “You might get it to the point where you’re going to get multiple proposals and you can start competing.”
Cape Elizabeth received two bids for the study after the deadline. A consultant with tied to Cape Elizabeth bid $15,000, according to O’Meara, and the other, out of Florida, proposed $33,000.
The council agreed that a bigger budget would result in a larger, better pool of candidates. The council wants a new proposal for the study ready to be voted on in the coming weeks.
The council also approved a citizen ad hoc committee that would work with the study consultant and to provide public feedback and recommendations once the study is completed.
“A lot of people have spoken to me and they’re looking for an ad-hoc committee,” Councilor Susan Gillis said at the workshop. “They’d like to have input as to … what kind of housing we are looking for.”
The town’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee should also be involved, councilors said, but a citizen-driven committee with an exclusive focus on the housing study is needed.
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