A major affordable housing project in Lewiston was dealt a significant blow this week, after the city's Board of Appeals voted against allowing a key variance.
Lewiston Housing wants to spend more than $7 million — including a $3.7 million grant from MaineHousing — to turn Lewiston's Ramada Inn into 117 units of what it describes as "permanent affordable housing," designed for people experiencing homelessness and those at risk.
To make the project work, the agency is seeking a variance that would allow many of those units to be smaller than the city's minimum dwelling unit size of 300 square feet.
But on Wednesday, the board unanimously rejected that petition.
The board questioned whether the property needed to be converted from a hotel in order to keep operating, and board member Paula Masselli said that the project would significantly alter the character of the neighborhood.
"We have very few neighborhoods left in Lewiston. I'd like to see the neighborhood stay," Masselli said.
The future of the project is now unclear. Lewiston Housing Executive Director Chris Kilmurry told the Board of Appeals that getting the approval would ensure that it could meet a deadline to receive state funding.
"We couldn't go through the process of getting it contract-zoned through the planning board, and two readings of the city council, in the amount of time, before that $3.7 million would go away," Kilmurry said. "Once that money goes away, the deal would no longer make sense financially."
On Friday, Kilmurry said that the agency is evaluating the next steps for the project.
