KENNEBUNK – The Neighborhood Housing Trust is offering to build two to three affordable single-family homes on a town-donated plot adjacent to the skate park on Factory Pasture Lane in Kennebunk – if the select board and voters approve the idea. This would be the first expansion by the Trust into Kennebunk; two affordable neighborhoods have already been completed in Kennebunkport.
Larissa Crockett, executive director of the trust, told the Kennebunk Select Board Tuesday night that one benefit of working with the trust is that the board could earmark these homes to be available only to, for example, town and RSU-21 employees, saying most of these employees cannot at this time afford to live in Kennebunk. She explained in detail that any potential buyers would need to fulfill financial qualifications for income and for first-time homeowner status and training, adding that everyone who qualified would then be entered into a drawing as the fairest way to choose who would become the homeowners.
She added that what they have seen is that overwhelmingly, the people who apply for the homes the Trust builds already have a connection to the community. “Like you, they want to live where they are already connected,” she said. An earlier story in The Local News provides detail on the two Kennebunkport developments. For the Kennebunk parcel, Crockett clarified, the land itself would remain in the hands of the trust to maintain affordability long term, while the homes would be owned by the homeowners.
Crockett noted early on that the 2025 median price of a Kennebunk home currently stands at $806,000, which requires, in addition to significant savings, a $167,000 annual household income. “Many, many people in Kennebunk do not earn $167,000 a year,” she said, adding that the current median household income for a household of four in Kennebunk is $106,000.
According to Chris Osterreider, director of community development/town engineer, the parcel was originally acquired from Rogers Fibre Company in 1967. It was assessed in 2025 for $133,000 as an unimproved lot located in the Village Residential District. More background on this potential transfer can be found in Osterreider’s memo to Town Manager Bryan Laverriere, located here.
The select board will decide on final details of this proposal and vote whether or not to forward it to public hearing at their August 25 meeting. The first public hearing would take place September 8, with a second one on October 13. Kennebunk voters would then vote on November 3 as to whether the property should be transferred to the Neighborhood Housing Trust. Should this go forward, the trust will conduct a series of assessments on such items as environmental constraints, utility upgrades, number of potential homes, and ultimate cost of the homes. According to Crockett, the homes could be available by the end of 2027.
