Photo / Ray Bernier
Students from Bath Regional Career and Technical Education carpentry program on March 25 work on a house they built that was moved to 57 Chestnut St. in Bath.
April 15, 2020
Collaboration on one small Bath house is result of bigger development focus
Photo / Maureen Milliken
The new house at 57 Chestnut St. in Bath was built by students at in the Bath Regional Career and Technical Ecucation program, paid for by Bath Rotary Foundation and is now owned by Bath Housing Development Corp.
By Maureen Milliken
Bath Housing Development Corp. had a small problem — finding a house built for a .14-acre lot on Chestnut Street.
"We wanted a small home, but not a 'tiny home,'" Debora Keller, of the housing authority, told Mainebiz.
The Bath Regional Career and Technical Center carpentry program also had a problem — the students were building a modular house they no longer had a buyer for.
Keller mentioned her problem, in passing, to Ray Bernier, who directs the Bath Regional CTE carpentry program. Problems solved.
On March 25, the 720-square-foot house was moved onto the foundation at 57 Chestnut St., memorialized in a video about the project that Bath Housing released this week.
The collaboration involved many more partners than just the housing authority and the school. Bath Housing is buying the student-built house from Bath Rotary Charitable Trust, and contracted with Vaillancourt Builders LLC, a long-time partner of the school program, to oversee the sitework, building move and finish work.
Dirigo Custom Structures, of Woolwich, which builds modular homes, moved the house from the worksite on Congress Street to Chestnut Street.
Longtime partnerships
Bath Rotary Charitable Trust, established in 1973, has been involved in developing 25 homes in partnership with the Bath Regional CTC. Originally the homes were built onsite, but in 2003, the school switched to modular homes that could be built there, then moved.
The Chestnut Street project is the ninth modular home built by students in the program, and the fourth that Bath Housing has bought, though the first in some time. Bath Housing also partnered with the school, at the time Bath Regional Vocational School, and the Rotary Club and city, to build houses for 88 Dummer St., in 2005, 3 Federal St., in 2004, on Tarbox Street, in 2003.
The Rotary trust provides the financial support for the building project, said Bob Warren, a member and past president of Bath Rotary, in the video. "Then we work with private industries or work collaboratively, as we did with Bath Housing, to provide people very cost effective, very energy efficient homes."
The house has two bedrooms, one bathroom,and an open floor plan with cathedral ceilings in the kitchen/living area, as well as a small porch. Besides the three front steps, it also has a ramp along the side of the house, giving full access to the front door.
Students framed, laid out and built the house — including building risers, interior trim, sheetrock, roofing, siding, cabinetry, and installing windows and doors. At the conclusion of the two-year carpentry program, students leave with the skills to enter the field of residential construction or continue at a community college.
The hope is that the students can do the finish work before the house goes on the market this summer. It will be sold by the housing authority to a family that makes 80% percent or below of the area median income.
"We have been building homes since the beginning of the program, which have been sold in different capacities," said Julie Kenny, director of the Bath Regional CTC. The Chestnut Street house is the first one the students have built with a hinged roof, to allow the cathedral ceilings. The school's welding instructor made the hinges, Kenny said.
Leon Vaillancourt, of Vaillancourt Builders, is a former student of the carpentry program when he attended Morse High School. "I know first-hand the incredible value of learning this trade,” he said in a news release about the project. “I’ve been a carpenter/contractor for over 40 years, having gotten my start there. It brings me great joy to serve on this program’s advisory board and work side-by-side with these students.”
More to come
“We’re incredibly excited about this project,” said Keller. “We’re continuously working to find ways to bring more affordable, and appropriately located, housing to the area. That this brand new home was built by students who are actively developing trade skills to this community is an added bonus.”
Keller told Mainebiz that in recent years land has been less available for the program. The authority bought the .14-acre lot on Chestnut Street with a MaineHousing land acquisition grant three years ago.
Keller, who has been with Bath Housing for seven years, said the current project will spur similar collaborations as housing options get tighter in the area.
Bath, about 35 miles north of Portland, is feeling the pressure of that area's tight and expensive housing market, she said. "It's working up the coast."
"It's next to impossible to find affordable rental property and incredibly impossible to get into the home ownership market," she said.
She said the great thing about the student-built home is that it will be priced like a starter home, but there won't be the work required that comes with a lot of less-expensive houses.
Aside from its work with the school, the housing authority has a long history of development.
Between 2000 and 2004, Bath Housing Development Corp. acquired, rehabilitated and sold five houses to eligible low-income families using land donated to the organization by Bath Iron Works. A partnership with Habitat for Humanity 7 Rivers included three houses on Tarbox Street and two on High Street.
Last year, the development corporation acquired two parcels downtown, including the Moses and Columbia blocks and a parking lot at 195 Front St. Development of the property aims to preserve the character of downtown, encourage economic stimulus in the walkable central core and maintain rental housing at modest prices for people who live and work in the city.
In 2018, Bath Housing bought 41-43 Lincoln St., a six-unit apartment building that was redeveloped last year using federal Community Development Block Grant money.
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