Avesta Housing President and CEO Dana Totman and Board Member Peter Bass toured the Park Village neighborhood of Saco on March 2 with Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau and Rep. Lynn Copeland, Maine House District 14, as part of a tour and press conference promoting LD 2003, a new bill before the Maine legislature to address the affordable housing crisis.
The bill incorporates recommendations made by a state commission formed in 2021 to study the impact of municipal zoning laws and land use restrictions on housing opportunities in Maine and to propose solutions to the affordable housing crisis. Totman was a member of the commission.
“The Park Village neighborhood in Saco is a great example of a mixture of housing that grew organically,” Totman said. “There are modest single-family homes for retirees and first-time homeowners, affordable apartments for older adults and people with disabilities, multi-story houses, and a large condominium complex, all within walking distance of each other. You simply don’t see that happening anywhere in the state of Maine anymore.
“This legislation will make it easier to facilitate a diverse mix of housing development and increase the number of affordable housing communities that are so desperately needed.”
(Photo: Avesta Housing President and CEO Dana Totman and Maine House Speaker Ryan tour the Park Village neighborhood of Saco.)
