The University of New England has been set back in its bid to begin creating student housing in a Biddeford convent.
Biddeford councilors Tuesday imposed a temporary development moratorium on the school, according to the Biddeford Gazette.
The college has been planning to buy St. Joseph’s Convent two miles west of its southern-Maine campus.
Good Shepherd Sisters of Quebec’s complaints that the proposed moratorium could kill their planned sale of the convent fell on deaf ears.
They said they can’t afford to maintain the property and have been planning its sale since 2017.
The sisters that year began planning for the time they would vacate the property.
“When we recognized we could no longer sustain the property with our current population, we knew University of New England would be the ideal choice,” Good Shepherd Sister Terry Gauvin told the Saco Bay News in 2024.
Gauvin said the college’s “commitment to both inclusive, innovative education and preservation of Biddeford’s local history aligns perfectly with our mission.”
The school has received approval of its convent-conversion plan from the Saco River Corridor Commission.
But municipal planners also have a say in whether the project goes forward.
City officials decided they need time to review the overall impact of the college’s long-term growth plans before deciding whether to eventually allow them to move ahead.
