🔒Rural development: Building housing that builds community

Kara Wilbur is a planner, developer and distributor of catalog homes through Dooryard, a full-service development company. She’s encouraged by a growing recognition that low-density suburban development contributes to a tax base that pays for road maintenance, school transportation and public safety. “Towns like Newcastle, Rumford, Yarmouth, Madison and Rockland have been proactively identifying development parcels in their community centers,” Wilbur says, “updating their zoning to allow for development in their neighborhoods and village centers, and intentionally seeking out development partners who will build high-quality places.” Many communities are going further, offering financial support to help close financing gaps that continue to limit housing production, particularly in rural Maine. “Leaders in Maine at both the state and local level have an opportunity — and responsibility — to advocate for higher quality development that reflects our most-loved village and neighborhood patterns,” Wilbur says. “Small multifamily projects, missing middle housing, adaptive reuse and infill development will be central to addressing housing needs in our communities.” Wilbur notes that the work of the Maine State Land Bank Authority, the Maine Office of Community Affairs and Maine State Housing Authority are well positioned to support local development efforts. “Looking ahead to 2026, success will be measured by sustained state and local investment in existing neighborhoods and villages across Maine, places where people continue to live, volunteer, help their neighbors and fight for their communities,” she says. “Maintaining our Maine way of life,” she adds, “will also require continued efforts to roll back outdated land use policies and reclaim our power to build places that are beautiful, enduring and that deliver long-term value to both our communities and to people’s lives.”