By: Heather Holland
Three resident-owned manufactured home communities in Maine, representing 153 homes, received a combined total of $2.3 million in grants and forgivable loans for drinking water infrastructure upgrades, thanks to support from CDI’s WISP program.
The water infrastructure projects are being funded in part by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a federal grant, and Maine’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), which is being distributed as a forgivable loan.
The need for each community is different in scope, but all of them involve fixing, upgrading, or replacing aging water infrastructure that has reached the end of its useful lifespan.
Mountainside Mobile Home Park in Camden was awarded $1,671,550 to replace 3,500 feet of water mains and laterals in the community. Mountainside’s water distribution system regularly experiences breaks and leaks and the rate of these issues have increased over time given the age of the system.
Mountainside has been in existence for 70 years and has had three owners before the residents of the park formed the Mountainside Community Cooperative and purchased the park with the support of CDI in December 2019, according to Margaret Jones, President of the Mountainside Community Cooperative.
“This award will allow Mountainside to replace our failing water distribution system and ensure a consistent supply of safe drinking water to the seniors living in our 52-unit affordable housing community,” said Jones. “We would not have been able to address this issue without this much needed assistance. We so appreciate this opportunity to make our community a better and safer place to live.”
The two other communities that received funding include:
- Charter Oaks Village Cooperative located in Arundel with 40 homes.
- Wardtown Park located in Freeport with 61 homes.
Charter Oaks Village Cooperative was awarded a total budget of $353,500 to add water storage and make other upgrades to its water distribution system.
Wardtown Park was awarded a budget of $292,900 to make upgrades that will allow the community to make repairs to isolated parts of their water distribution system without shutting down water to the entire park.
The WISP program is currently working with each community to hire an engineer to begin the project planning and design work.
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