A contractor who’s suffered lengthy zoning delays on a $15 million Portland-area project is now wondering whether it’ll ever get off the ground.
The Cape Elizabeth council will vote Feb. 10 whether to allow zoning amendments paving the way for Center Court, a 33-unit, senior-housing development.
Bob Gaudreau of Hardypond Construction said he may never recoup the investment he’s made in the protracted project, even if it goes forward.
“This will be my last development,” he said. “Just getting too old to take this type of risk anymore.”
The zoning amendments up for a vote next week would allow greater density in the middle of town.
Gaudreau calls it “the best opportunity to provide additional housing units and help businesses in the Town Center District.”
“I am just a conduit in the end, maybe for the good of Cape Elizabeth or maybe money down the tube,” Gaudreau added. “My frustration is that my development should have been let loose to proceed to the Planning Board, instead of being caught up in a revaluation of the whole land-use code for the Town Center district.”
He started Hardypond 35 years ago – a week after getting laid off from his construction job.
Gaudreau’s boss is now his daughter – company president Deirdre Wadsworth, making it one of a handful of female-owned construction companies in Maine.
“:Senior housing “:bullshit .
This will be another nest of Janet’s illegal aliens .
Cape E doesn’t want any subsidize housing unless it’s 2 or 3 actual houses so they can virtue signal but still stay untouched
just like the housing in Brunswick all illegal aliens. Let ICE come and pay them all a visit.
This could have been taken care of a while ago, had they enacted a conditional zoning permit. Unfortunately, the town council will be voting to amend zoning ordinances that will impact the entire town center zone, which will pave the way for large subsidized apartment complexes. These zoning amendments, by the way, were overturned by a citizen referendum back in 2022.
Rather than doing what’s in the best interest of the developer and the community, the town council and planning board are using this opportunity to advance their agenda.