What is believed to be Maine's first tiny homes subdivision moved closer to reality Tuesday night after the Swanville Planning Board gave its final approval to a proposal to build a half-dozen of the 440-square foot structures on a 50-acre parcel on Oak Hill Road.
Derek Davis, of Thorndike, and Chad Tozier, of Unity, have formed a partnership to market the homes which are being constructed by the Amish-owned Backyard Buildings of Unity. Davis says the next challenge for the project will be connecting the tiny homes with renters or buyers.
Tozier says the subdivision will allow residents to have a smaller carbon footprint, due in part to the inclusion of solar power.
"We've got a vision for how this can work," Tozier said. "We're going to add some solar into this project. We're working with the company that built these buildings that will provide us with a solar shed which will provide us with about two-thirds of our electricity needs. And going forward, we want to look more into that. If we can scale this, can we go further off the grid?"
"There's quite a learning experience trying to figure out who might want to do this and we're still testing the waters," Davis said. "We don't know how big this could be or how not so big it could be. We're just taking a chance and seeing what we can do."
Davis also said the homes will be be heated and cooled with heat pumps and could be offered to buyers for less than $100,000.