York County Community College drops hotel request, eyes dorms for future

WELLS, Maine — York County Community College is no longer seeking an arrangement for students to stay longer at local hotels but is moving full speed ahead with its hopes for on-campus dorms in the future.

Chris Burbank, the college’s director of strategic initiatives and partnerships, announced this new approach during the Wells Planning Board meeting on July 10.

After hearing feedback from the Planning Board and elsewhere, York County Community College (YCCC) decided to withdraw its request that a change be made in the town ordinance to allow students to stay at local hotels for longer than the current limit of 28 days for transient guests, Burbank said.

“We want to be good partners and good community stewards,” Burbank said. “We heard the concerns that were addressed … We will no longer be seeking that.”

Currently, the school has an arrangement with the Hampton Inn that allows students to live there during semesters, provided that they vacate their rooms every 28 days. To meet that town requirement, YCCC has had to be creative, scheduling field trips and taking other complying steps.

Despite its withdrawn proposal, YCCC will continue its arrangement with the Hampton Inn, Burbank said. The arrangement has helped the college, which does not have on-campus housing.

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At their previous meeting, some Planning Board members pushed back against the idea of exempting students from the 28-day limit. The board also received an email from a resident who did not like the proposal.

“I can’t think of a worse idea,” Adrienne Angelo, of Schooner Way, wrote. “These are young people who want to party on their time off and will not abide by any dormitory regulations.”

During a public hearing on July 10, however, Cindy Davidson, who teaches at YCCC, advocated for more flexibility on the time period students may stay at the inn. Davidson read from a statement she had prepared before she knew YCCC would be withdrawing its request.

“I’ve seen first-hand the efforts the students are willing to make,” Davidson said. “The college is helping them with temporary housing.”

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Davidson said students at the inn are supervised and have not prompted complaints from other guests or responses from local police. She added that it is unfair to hold against the students the transgressions of other hotel guests, in particular those taking advantage of the county’s housing program.

“There is no comparison,” she said. “It is unfair to hold it against the students because of what other people, in another program, did at other facilities, where there was no structure and no supervision. Forcing the students to vacate their premises every 28 days is ludicrous. Moving out during final exams is brutal.”

As for the college’s lone, remaining “ask” of the town, YCCC still hopes voters can approve a standalone district that one day would allow for dormitories to be built on campus. Currently, the college is conducting a feasibility study on whether such dorms would be beneficial, not just for YCCC but also for the community.

“We hope to have that information finalized sometime this fall,” Burbank said.

After the public hearing on July 11, the Planning Board discussed the proposed new district on campus during a workshop. The board primarily focused on definitions related to students and workforce housing, which is something YCCC hopes to provide when dorms have more vacancies during the summertime.

YCCC President Michael Fischer, who attended the meeting with Burbank, said he was open to any language that may be required to make the boundaries of workforce housing clear.

“Our job … is to create a trained and educated and skilled workforce,” Fischer said. “Every decision we’ve made at the college has been towards that. We believe that if we do that, we create socioeconomic mobility for our students and economic prosperity for our community.”

After the end of the workshop, the Planning Board voted to advance the requested college district to the Wells Select Board with a recommendation in support of the proposal. In the meantime, the town’s planning office and YCCC will make the decided-upon adjustments to the proposal’s language.

Next, the Select Board will discuss the proposal, schedule a public hearing, and decide whether to advance it to the town meeting this November.

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Fast food restaurant pitched in Wells Plaza

In other business, the Planning Board received a site plan pre-application from Bridge33 Capital, which is seeking to build a 2,275-square-foot fast-food restaurant and drive-through at Wells Plaza on Route 1. The plaza is home to Hannaford, Reny’s, a movie theater, and other small businesses.

According to Project Manager Craig Burgess, of Acorn Engineering, the restaurant would be built on a newly established parcel of less than an acre, across the parking lot from Hannaford and close to Route 1.

Burgess said the developer does not yet have a tenant for the fast-food stop, which, if approved, would be across the street from a McDonald’s.

Members of the Planning Board will conduct a site walk at the property on Thursday, July 20, at 5:30 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: York County Community College drops hotel request, eyes dorms for future